The Pink Duckling
by Chibiaddicted
Summary: --AU-- “I don’t date ugly girls with pink hair.” “I’ll make you eat those words, Sasuke.” -SakuraxSasuke- -GaaraxSakura- -ItaSakuSaso- -ItachixSakuraxSasori-
1. Reunion Gone Bad

Another story. This is about the third this week. ;

SakuraxSasuke

Note: This does have mild cursing in it and some perversion. :D

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"I don't date ugly girls with pink hair." Safe to say his words crushed the poor girl. The plastic bag of cookies dropped to the floor as her mouth widened in response. The boy just turned and began to walk away. Luckily for the girl her long pink hair covered her green eyes that were starting to tear up.

He was the door, about to leave the classroom where she confessed to him, when she spoke up. "I'll make you eat those words, Sasuke." She growled out, picking up the cookies and throwing them roughly at the stoic boy. He caught them easily before tossing them in the trash.

The challenge was not something he was prepared for, but ever the genius he smirked. "Let's put that to the test. I'll be back senior year. See if you can change my impression then." And with that he opened the door and walked out.

She scoffed, rubbing at her stinging eyes. "Three years? Piece of cake." She mumbled before stalking out of the same door he went through.

--

**First day of Senior Year at Konoha High**

--

"Damn, Sakura, can you believe that we're finally seniors?" A tall blonde girl put an arm on the girl named, Sakura. "Think about it! We've spent 3 years here and it's about to end just like that!" The girl snapped, making sure not to break her new acrylic nails.

Sakura wasn't paying attention to her loud friend and instead looked around nervously. "He's not here, you know. Get over him and go to the loudmouth Naruto. He's been after you since middle school."

"Shut up, Ino." Sakura snapped coldly before frowning. "Sorry, but this isn't about my idiotic crush. This is personal. That cold-hearted, egotistical," the pink-haired girl wrung her hands together, pretending that it was Sasuke's throat. "Anyways, I've been over him for years now." She waved her hand nonchalantly.

Ino gave her a No-way-in-hell-am-I-believing-you look but shrugged, taking her arm off the shorter girl and pulling out her schedule. "I have Asuma for homeroom again. " She frowned.

"Well I have Kakashi again." Sakura sighed. It wasn't that the girls hated their homeroom teachers, quite the opposite actually. It was just that the two of them had the two men **every** year since they started high school.

"Yo! Sakura, you have Kakashi too?" A loud blonde yelled, causing everyone in the hallway to turn to him. His bright cerulean eyes were wide with excitement that the first day of school always brings.

"Hey Naruto, hyper as ever I see," Ino stated lazily before turning to Sakura, "I'ma make sure that Shikamaru made it to school today. Knowing him he's probably asleep on the side of the road." She shook her head and walked off to find her friend.

"Have you seen Sasuke yet, Naruto?" The pink-haired girl asked nervously, trying to be nonchalant. She opened her locker and stuffed all the stuff she could into the small space.

"Oh? That guy, not yet, but knowing him he's probably in you smart classes." Naruto always referred to Sakura's advanced classes as 'smart classes' since he was almost in remedial everything.

"Probably." She sighed, slamming her head against her locker. The first bell rang loudly, shocking all the freshmen who weren't used to their eccentric principle's way of running their school.

"You know what that means, Naruto. If we don't get our butts to homeroom Tsunade'll drag us there." The blonde's eyes widened in memory of his first day of high school before he rushed off waving goodbye, pushing other kids out of the way roughly.

Sakura shook her head and walked to the third floor, room 222, and took her seat in far back, left corner. Kakashi assigned her that seat year since he knew she took school more seriously than his other students. Speaking of unserious students…

"Hey Shikamaru, Ino dragged you to class early I see." Sakura smirked at the lazy boy who was seated in the first row.

He stared back. "Aren't you suppoased to be exacting you revenge on that one guy that broke your heart?"

"Can't find him, maybe he chickened out." She smirked wickedly which made the lazy genius shrug and turn around.

There were only 15 kids that got into Kakashi's class. Not because it was extremely difficult but because the older man was so picky that he only allowed the best to be in his class.

"Yo." He greeted, walking in five minutes after the second bell. A large bruise was forming over his left eye, most likely Tsunade's handy work. "We have a new student. Some, probably all, of you might remember him, Uchiha Sasuke." He waved at the door and in walked a tall boy around the class's age (all were seniors who were used to Kakashi's odd method of teaching).

Sakura worked to keep her expression as emotionless as his, but couldn't help the small smirk that graced her pink lips. "He was here three years ago and has recently moved back. Tsunade has ordered everyone to treat him as you would anyone else in this school, but know this group I think that would only give you guys an excuse to torture him. Be nice." After his quick lecture the teacher sat down, put his legs on his desk, and pulled out a thick orange book.

Sasuke sat in the front of Sakura, not even looking at the pink-haired girl. He stared at the window blankly and the girl found herself unwilling to 'be nice' as her teacher had ordered.

Crumpling up a scrap piece of paper she threw it at the boy's spiky black hair. He didn't move so she threw another. After five paper balls and an eraser the boy finally turned and glared at her.

"Do you have a problem," he looked at her hair before raising an eyebrow, "Pinky?"

Shocked that he didn't recognize her and angry that he called her Pinky, Sakura openly gaped at the boy.

"If you're going to be my fangirl then you need to send in an application to the president of the club."

"Excuse you?" She asked angrily, one eyebrow up in question.

"You heard me." He answered before turning back to face the teacher. Kakashi just flipped through the pages lazily, not really caring about Sakura's now deadly aura.

"Obviously I didn't hear correctly. Because if you think that you're important enough to gain my affection again than you are sorely mistaken, Uchiha Sasuke." She growled out, shaking from the effort it took not to slam her fist into the arrogant boy's jaw. Kakashi looked up, making sure not to make eye contact with the girl. She was Tsunade's niece and he knew where her strength came from.

"You seem familiar, Pinky. But let me tell you this," he stood up and she saw that he was a few inches taller than herself. "I don't have any problems hitting a girl." He stared at her coldly and she smirked.

"I don't either." She said angrily before grabbing her bag and walking out the door. "Yo, Kakashi," she called out from the doorway, "Class is over in five minutes so I'ma going to go to the bathroom."

The teacher nodded. "Which is code for "This guy's pissing me off and if I don't leave now I'm gonna kick his ass" in you language. That's fine, just don't tell Tsunade or I'll get yet another bruise." She smiled at Kakashi before throwing a victory glare at the Uchiha.

As soon as she left the class started to whisper, one girl, a tall brunette, started the fuss. "I've never seen Haruno get so angry at anyone." Another added, "It's that Uchiha's fault. What's he got up-," "Don't be so crude." "Sorry." And if continued for five minutes until, as Sakura had predicted, the bell rang.

--

"Wow, that's definitely the worse reunion I've ever heard of." Ino stated, laughing. It was lunch; so far Sakura's favorite class of the year since it was the only one she didn't have with **him**

"Don't remind me. If I have another class with him I think I'll puke. Do you think they'll let me transfer to your classes?" She pleaded.

"No chance, you know how your aunt is. She knows what you're capable of and, unlike my nice parents, won't let you skip out of the hard classes." Ino waved her chopsticks around before taking another bite of her home packed sushi. She had a point though; no way in hell would Tsunade let her skip out on the hard classes because of a single boy. Most likely her aunt would tell her to beat the boy to a bloody pulp off of school grounds…Actually, that wasn't a **bad** idea it's just that Sakura didn't need people thinking that she was some scary bitch that picked on new kids.

She sighed loudly before Naruto plopped down next to her. "What's up Sakura? I heard you met Sasuke again and it didn't go to well." The blonde frowned at the thought of Sasuke hurting his friend again. "Don't worry about what he says; you remember how he was back then. Seems like nothing has changed, eh?" He started to eat his instant ramen (it wasn't served at the school but the loudmouth somehow charmed the lunch lady into giving it to him).

"Naruto's right, for once. Nothing's changed about the Uchiha. In fact, the only thing that's changed is you monstrous strength." Ino stuck her tongue out playfully while the pink-haired girl deadpanned.

"Ino's right, Sakura, you are strangely strong. Even my cousin is jealous." The small girl next to Ino piped up. Her creamy white eyes glanced back and forth at the oblivious Naruto.

"Oh Hinata, I didn't know you were here." Sakura blushed at her mistake. "How's your first day going? Obviously it must be better than mine." She groaned.

Hinata nodded happily. "I have a lot of classes with Ino and Naruto." She smiled up at the depressed girl. "Ino also told me that you have Calculus next, so do I so we'll be together, right?" Her voice was soft and anyone who had just met the girl would never be able to understand her but her close friends had no trouble understanding and tended to translate for the shy girl.

"Yay, at least we have one class together. You guys are so lucky you don't have geniuses in your family who think that you **want** to learn this stuff." Sakura crossed her arms and let her head fall into them with a **thump**.

"Poor Sakura." Ino mumbled before the bell rang. "Hey, only around a hundred more days to go, right?" She grinned like a Cheshire cat before running off, barely missing Sakura's long arm that reached for her throat.

Hinata held out her hand for the emerald eyed girl. She took it slowly before lifting herself off of the table. "He better not be in my next class or I swear he's a stalker." Hinata just giggled, following the sulky girl to their next class.

--

"Dammit, why the hell are you here too?" Sakura yelled out of frustration. She stood over Sasuke who was looking at the math book before she stormed over.

He looked at her lazily. "Because I was forced to?" He answered blankly before turning back to the book. Sakura wasn't fooled though.

"You're stalking me. Change your schedule **now**." She ordered, pointing a manicured finger at him.

He glanced at her finger before looking up at her. "You really do look familiar. What's your name?" He asked, changing the subject flawlessly.

"Haruno Sakura." She answered voice low with malice. All her pent up aggression at the boy in front of her was about to blow.

He looked fairly surprised even if it was only for a second. Then his eyes narrowed and a smirk formed on his lips. "I remember you now. You're the ugly girl that confessed her _love_ to me three years ago." He looked her up and down slowly. "You've changed."

She blushed, but glared anyways. "What? Like pink-haired girls now?"

His smirk was practically glued to his face. "No, I like girls with nice racks." She noticed that her breasts, which we in fact fairly large and the tight school shirt didn't help hide them, were right in front of his face.

"Pervert!" She yelled over the giggles from her classmates. She shook with anger and Hinata was too slow to stop what happened next.

**Crack**

"Bitch you broke my nose!" Sasuke yelled out in a nasally voice. Blood was pouring down his nose and Hinata, being the nice person she was, helped him up and began taking him to the nurse's office.

Sakura looked around, happy that only two other kids were in the room. "Do I **have** to tell you to not squeal?" She asked threateningly. The others nodded no, eyes wide. After the confirmation she took a deep breath before running out after Hinata and the jerk.

She feigned shock at his nose. "Oh my God, Sasuke! What happened to your nose?" She asked worriedly with her hand at her open mouth. She opened the nurse's door for him, smiling at Hinata behind his back. The girl looked frankly shocked.

"You know what happened you-," He hissed as the nurse touched his nose. Sakura glared at him behind the nurse's back and to her surprise he smirked.

"Young man, what happened to your nose?" The nurse asked quietly, touching in various places with a cold cloth.

"I fell and hit it on my desk." He lied easily, eyes on the surprised Sakura.

"Hmm, well you're lucky it's not broken. The swelling will go down in a few days but the bruise will be there for a while." The nurse turned to Sakura who feigned worry at Sasuke. "Sakura, be a dear and drive him home please? There's no way he can go through the day with this pain. I'll tell Tsunade where you are."

"Thanks Shizune, come on Sasuke, my car's out back." She waved to the boy who begrudgingly followed her. He thanked Shizune with a smile as he caught up to the pink-haired girl.

"You're welcome." He stated cockily, holding ice to his nose.

"No, you're welcome. I didn't break your nose and now I'm driving you home. You should be on your knees begging for forgiveness." She said just as cockily as him. Neither spoke until they were in her white Volkswagen Rabbit.

Before she started her car Sasuke told her to stop. "You've been in trouble before, haven't you?" He would have crossed his arms if one wasn't holding the ice pack.

"So what if I have?" She asked, leaning against her leather seat.

"You don't want me to tell the principal that you've harmed me, a new student on the first day of school, do you?" He asked, smirk on his face. At her silence he knew he was right. "Well then you'll just have to do me a few favors."

She glared at him. "I'm not having sex with you." She stated bluntly before he could say anything else.

He chuckled, a deep laugh that she found herself liking against her will, "I don't need **you** for **that**, and I've already told you that I don't like ugly pink-haired girls." He held up a finger before she could yell at him again. Uchiha Sasuke does not do yelling. "I'm just saying that if I need something then you'll give it me. Come to think of it actually, I would mind a nice home cooked meal for dinner tonight." He tilted his head at her with both his eyebrows raised.

After a few moments of silence Sakura gave in. "Fine, but only a few things if you promise not to tell anyone. I've already told the other kids not to say a word and they'll listen to me so all I have to worry about is you." With another glare she started her car and sped away towards his house.

How did her first day of her last year of high school end up like this?

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:D I won't ask you to review, but I would appreciate it. I want to know if this is even worth continuing.

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	2. I'm not wearing that

:D

Yay at 7 reviews! I was so happy I quickly wrote this chapter out of LOVE...well, not really.

This is most likely the longest chapter I have EVER written o.O

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"Hell no." Her voice rang crystal clear through his large mansion. "Actually that's a **double hell no**. I can't believe you'd even ask something so stupid! And not mention the actual reason that you have _that_ in your closet." She fingered the silky material softly.

Sasuke just smirked as he crossed his arms; the ice pack was long gone. "That's none of your concern. It's clean if that's what you're worried about. Quit your whining and just change." He waved his hand in dismissal but the girl stood there stubbornly. "Remember our deal? You owe me."

"I don't owe you anything that involves this rag." She threw the 'outfit' at the coldhearted boy and crossed her own arms, matching his position.

"Fine, don't wear it." He mumbled, picking up the silky maid outfit. "Just cook dinner for us and you can leave."

She smiled victoriously. "Great, what do you want?" She clapped her hands cutely and began searching his refrigerator. "I'm a great cook, trust me."

"Neither of us really cares for what we eat as long as it's not take out." She looked at him, confused for a second, before laughing. It was obvious that that was what they ate most of the time…

"Fine, but leave me to do my work in silence." He stood there. "I promise I won't poison it." She held up her hand with a giant smile on her full lips. He raised an eyebrow at her 'promise' but walked away silently.

She looked through the fridge and sighed. "Tomatoes?" There in front of her was about ten bowls of tomatoes. "Guess its tomato pasta tonight." She went in search of noodle and found a box of expired (at least 2 years) noodles. Shrugging, she went to work.

One of her least favorite parts of cooking was the fact that she had to wait for so long that she tended to get bored and when Sakura got bored her 'creativity' kicked in. Now, what could a girl who's cooking for a boy she hates do in her spare time? That's right….poison it.

Well, not _really_ poison it. More like…make the experience a tad bit more enjoyable for herself. So, telling Sasuke that she had to pick up some herbs for the pasta, she went to the store. That's where she found what she was really looking for. As she rushed back to his mansion the grin on her face didn't go away.

"Back!" She yelled when she noticed Sasuke wasn't there. Shrugging, she went back to the noodles to find them perfectly cooked.

Adding the tomatoes, the herbs, and finally her secret ingredient, she called for the boy to come downstairs. To her shock two people came down the stairs.

"You must be Sakura, my little brother's friend. My name is Itachi." She smiled up at him. He looked just like his brother except his face was much kinder.

"I'm not exactly his friend, but it is nice to meet you, Itachi." He nodded at her before sitting down at the long table. "Well," she started, a bit nervous, "I better head back. I need to cook for my family too."

"No you don't." Sasuke grabbed her wrist roughly, causing her to stumble back. "Not until you try this first." He held up his fork and she took a bite quickly. Satisfied, he let go. She ran out the house with out even a goodbye.

Outside, Sakura was busy spitting out the demon pasta. "Damn peppers." She cursed, panting. She would have stayed there for a few more minutes until she heard a distinct crash. That was her time to scram. Luckily she was in her car right as Sasuke came barreling out his front door, holding a glass of water.

She stuck her tongue out with a fierce smile before racing out of his driveway.

Itachi came outside, perfectly fine. "She's cute." He said, shrugging, "and she obviously does not like you." He added before walking inside to finish the wonderful meal. Uchiha Itachi liked habanero peppers.

--

**Second day of Senior Year at Konoha High**

--

"You didn't!" Ino yelled eyes wide as she applied her lip gloss flawlessly. The three girls were in the bathroom, their meeting ground, doing their makeup before first period.

"I did and he deserved it. I feel sorry for his cute brother though, he seemed nice." Sakura frowned as she blew on her painted nails. The wonder of girls is that some of them have the art of last minute manicures down pat.

"I can't believe Sasuke would do such a thing as that." Hinata whispered. Sakura had already filled them in on the terms she and the jerk had come to terms with. She had told her two friends what had happened in exactly ten minutes, a new record for girl kind.

"I can. He seems like the type to take advantage of Sakura's short temper." Ino giggled, picking up her purple Prada purse. "Well, I'm off to check on Shikamaru." She rolled her eyes. "Isn't the girl in the relationship suppoased to be high maintenance?" She asked before walking out the bathroom.

"Well Hinata, guess I got to see him today." She sighed, stretching her arm lazily. "Good luck with Naruto today." It was one of their traditional phrases to the shy girl and, like always, she blushed tomato red.

"Good luck Sakura." Hinata said quietly as the other girl left the sacred bathroom. Hinata sighed knowing deep inside that something else was going to go horribly wrong.

--

"Screw you, Uchiha!" Sakura yelled. One foot was propped up on her desk and one was standing in her chair. Her hands were up, flipping the black-haired boy off, a sadistic smile played on her lips.

The rest of the class went back to reading their assigned books. Kakashi just read his book, choosing to ignore the commotion.

"I can see your panties." Sasuke stated before turning back to his own book.

The whole scene had started the minute Sasuke questioned her about the peppers. He claimed that she had tried to kill him but she merely said that she thought he was man enough to handle the peppers. Then it escalated to astronomical proportions and Sakura then proceeded to jump on her desk and yell at the boy in front of her.

Sakura looked down and the Uchiha was right, her pink and black underwear was on display for the whole class. Those who dared look were greeted with a glare from the already angry girl. She hopped off of her desk and flicked the boy on the head, hard.

"What was that for?" He asked, holding his head. "First you try to break my nose, kill me, and now you're trying to give me a concussion?" He said calmly, eyes still on his required reading book.

"Ugh! For the last time none of those, well, actually they're all my fault, but you're just so arrogant that it's no wonder I've done all that." She held up her hands in defeat. Some of the classmates snickered. "If you **maybe** had a heart then **perhaps** I could treat you like a human being; but considering that that'll never happen I guess that I'll just have to keep this up."

Sasuke closed his eyes, smirk forming on his thin lips. "You liked me back then and I can assure you that I haven't changed since then."

Sakura was shocked. He just pulled the 'Three Years Ago" card! Frozen with her arms in front of her in shock, Sasuke's smirk widened in victory.

It took her ten minutes to defrost. "I can't believe you!" She started yelling, only to find out that the classroom was empty. She growled angrily, fists tightening. "I'll get you Sasuke!" She hissed before running to history class.

--

"Wow, he got you good." Ino laughed, eating her chocolate cookie. "I can't believe he said that."

"I hate him, I swear." Sakura growled out, eating her cookie.

"Then you'll really hate me." Naruto piped up from behind her, more cookies in hand. Sakura looked at him, confused at first, before her eyes focused on the tall person behind Naruto. Before she could throw the cookie at him, Ino lunged, grabbing her strong arm. This resulted in Ino being thrown _over_ the table and onto Naruto.

"Yo Naruto," she said happily before sighting Shikamaru sleeping. "Not again!" She yelled, scrambling towards her longtime beau.

"Naruto what is **he** doing here?" Sakura asked with narrow eyes, nibbling on her favorite type of cookie, double chocolate chip.

"He's my friend even though he is a bastard." Naruto grinned, giving her the peace offering of a dozen chocolate chip cookies. "Come on Sakura; don't be too angry at him." Naruto whined. "Sure he does have his faults. He's stubborn, arrogant, cold, and all together just a bastard, but inside I'm sure he has to be some kind of good." Naruto pleaded for the now angry boy's case.

"Naruto," Sakura started slowly, "you're too good of a person to be hanging out with this guy."

"Come on Sakura," he pleaded again. "Just give him a chance." The way she looked at him with wide blue eyes made her give in. That and the fact that the cookies he brought were fresh out the oven.

"Fine, but I can't guarantee his safety if he comes within a two feet radius of me." Her warning was ignored as Sasuke sat right across from her. She glared at him, but otherwise talked to Hinata, completely ignoring the Uchiha.

"So, Sasuke, what brings you back to Konoha?" Hinata asked shyly. The shyness wasn't from Sasuke but from the blonde boy who sat next to her.

"My brother wanted to come back." He answered simply. Hinata's mouth formed an 'O' as she decided to end the conversation.

"Why'd you leave in the first place?" Sakura asked, grabbing another cookie.

"My brother made me." Everyone just rolled their eyes. Naruto asked if that was the only phrase he knew. "No, I can say that you're an idiot." He added with a smirk. Sakura laughed while Naruto looked confused.

"Sasuke, that's not nice." Sakura lectured, waving a cookie. So far she had gone through five of the chocolaty delights. "Naruto's not an idiot; he's just a bit slower than the rest of us." Naruto yelled at her for her comment but she just yelled right back. It continued like that until the bell rang.

"Sakura, wait up." Sasuke ordered. To his surprise she actually stopped and waited for him to catch up. "My brother asked if you would join us for dinner tonight." He whispered in the crowed halls, following her to calculus.

"Wait, what?" She asked, stopping in the middle of the doorway.

"You heard me, my brother wants to thank-you for you 'wonderful meal'. His words, not mine." Sasuke mumbled.

"Aww that's nice." She smiled. "I'll be at your house at 8." She answered, sitting down for the class, not even glancing at him.

He sat down behind her silently. It was safe to say surprise at her reaction didn't cut it. Shocked fit his emotion better.

--

"That's definitely a date." Ino said as they changed for P.E. Sakura had once again explained the entire scenario in less that a minute, leaving the other two speechless.

"It is not, right Hinata?" The shy girl was hesitant, but after a few minutes, nodded in agreement. "See? I mean, what kind of date would it be if his **brother** was the one to invite me?"

"An awkward one." Ino stated.

"Har har," Sakura rolled her eyes as she put on her shorts. "Damn that Jiraiya. Why does Tsunade let him pick out the uniforms again?" Sakura asked rhetorically, looking at the long mirror. The short green shorts flaunted her long legs and the white shirt was almost too short. Good thing they only have P.E. twice a week.

"Come one Sakura and quit your bitching. If we don't get out there now then I don't doubt Gai will make us run five extra laps around town." Ino joked as she led the other two to the large gym.

"Yo! Sakura! You have this class too?" Naruto yelled, waving at the girls. Sasuke was right behind the blonde, obviously angry at the green color of the uniforms. He turned to Sakura, eyes widening slightly at what he saw.

"Wow Sakura, you look-," "Say anymore and I'll be forced to castrate you." She hissed with narrow eyes, hands on her hips. It was bad enough that she **knew** every male in the room was looking at her body. She threw a glare at the Uchiha who just raised an eyebrow at her outfit, smirking.

"Who's teaching PE this year?" Ino asked, smacking on her bubblegum. She was one of the people who choose to break that rule _and_ get away with it.

"Gai again." Naruto groaned at Shikamaru's statement. "And this year he has helpers."

"Alright bitches, time for some physical training!" A tall, lean girl yelled from the top of the bleachers down at the group of kids. Her hair was put up in two buns on either side of her head and in her mouth was a silver whistle which she blew tortuously.

"Tenten, I don't think you can say that even though you're a teacher." A much quieter voice said, bringing attention to the tall boy next to her. His long brown hair went to his waist and his white eyes, similar to Hinata's, searched the crowd.

"Dammit Neji, I can do whatever I want now that I'm a coach! Just because you're my fiancée doesn't mean that you can control me!" She yelled, throwing the basketball she had in her arms at the quiet boy. He dodged without an effort.

"You guys are engaged now?" Naruto yelled out. Tenten blushed, looking for another basketball to throw at the blonde.

"That's none of your business, idiot!" She yelled after chucking a volleyball at the group. Sakura hit the ball back with ease, thus starting the volleyball match: Tenten vs. Sakura which would have gone on until one gave up (not likely) if a green blur hadn't caught the ball.

"Sakura! My love!" The green blur jumped from the top of the bleachers and hugged the stunned Sakura.

"Fuzzy eyebrows? You're here too?" Naruto exclaimed, almost pulling out his own hair. "It's like a big reunion!" He smacked the older boy on the back with a giant smile on his face.

"Lee, get the hell off of me!" Sakura pushed the boy off of her easily. "What are you guys doing here anyways?" Sakura asked the sanest one, Neji, as he and Tenten walked down to them

"Well," Tenten began; completely ignoring the fact that Sakura wasn't talking to her, "we all escaped to college but lo and behold who pops up out of nowhere. Next thing we know we're _volunteering_ to be his PE teaching assistants." The seniors all laughed, knowing that Gai was **very** persuasive when he wanted to be.

"That sounds like that creepy guy." Ino mumbled, searching yet again for her elusive boyfriend. "Aha!" She yelled, running over to send a flying side kicked to his head.

"They're still together?" Tenten asked, barely glancing at the blonde.

"Surprising, right?" Sakura said, shaking her head slowly. "Oh, this is Uchiha Sasuke. Remember him?" She introduced the stoic boy lazily, mouthing 'he's a jerk' to her longtime friend.

Before Tenten could question the Uchiha a loud voice rang out "Good day my fellow human beings! It's a great day when we can all be together to bask in our youth!" The room groaned in recognition, but the voice continued. "This year will be full of wonders so make sure to-," he never got to finish his speech because Neji had long ago spotted the hiding man and proceeded to throw the volleyball at him. "Neji! That is so youthful!"

The man popped out of nowhere in a poof of purple smoke. A large red mark in the pattern of the volleyball stood out almost as much as his green spandex.

"Damn Neji, you got strong I see." Sakura exclaimed with a whistle. "It's still not enough to beat me though." She flexed her arm and the white eyed boy rolled his eyes.

"I could beat you with one finger, Haruno." He held up his forefinger as to emphasize his point.

"I'll take you on that challenge!" She yelled, about to pounce if Naruto hadn't grabbed her arm to stop her.

"Neji! That is so not youthful!" Gai yelled, standing behind the tall boy now. Ino rolled her eyes telling Hinata that the old man sounded more girly than she did. "Okay my beautiful youths today we shall play…soccer!" He was overjoyed but the seniors just stared blankly.

Tenten broke the silence by separating the group into two teams. Apparently Tenten's favorite odds were boys vs. girls…

"This'll be fun." Sakura smirked, putting on her shin guards. Since PE wasn't required for most of the seniors they had just enough players to form two teams with the weaklings/lazy people on the sidelines. Shikamaru and Hinata watched from said side lines.

"Alright people," Tenten yelled, taking command of the teams, "you know how we play." And sadly, everyone did know how they played. So thus emerged the battle of the sexes.

"I'ma make you eat dirt." Sakura told Sasuke who stood right across from her.

He smirked. "We'll just see about that." As soon as the game started Sakura bolted past the onyx eyed boy and ran all the way down the field.

Tenten who was a pro with the ball, weaved past Lee, Shino, and tripped Naruto easily. Neji was on defense and she knew that he'd be harder to get past though, so she kicked the ball backwards to Ino who nodded and sent the ball flying with her famous kick.

Sakura let the ball hit her in chest before she sent it flying past the boys' goalie, Chouji.

"Goal!" Gai yelled from the sidelines. His arms flew into the air and he gave his signature 'nice guy pose'.

"Wow, you guys are even worse this year. Neji, seems like you've gotten soft after propo-," Sakura barely managed to doge the soccer ball that was almost the replacement for her head. "Dammit Tenten! Warn me next time!" She stared wide eyed at the other girl who just whistled innocently.

The game continued going smoothly for the girls until Shikamaru whispered something in Chouji's ear. Then the tides turned in the boys favor. By halftime (Welll, 45 min. into their hour and thirty minute game) the group was evenly tied and ready to pass out.

"Wow, I haven't had exercise like this since trying to fit into that size two prom dress last year!" Ino exclaimed, stretching. She grabbed a plastic cup of water, drank it, and promptly threw it at her boyfriend. "You jerk! I can't believe you helped those idiots!" She yelled. Shikamaru knew that the only reason she wasn't kicking his ass right then was because the game had tired her out so much.

"It's not that I don't want to help you, Ino. It's just that Naruto wouldn't shut up if I didn't help." He said from his position lounging on the metal bench.

"Hell Ino, **I'd** betray you if it got Naruto to shut up for five minutes." Sakura said happily. She was about to get another drink from the cooler until she was cut off. "Hey, that's so not fair!" She pushed Sasuke out of the way and filled up her cup.

He stayed silent as did the rest of the class, watching the bout. When she finished he calmly continued to fill up his cup silently.

"So," Hinata started, "are you two on good terms now?" She asked, cowering behind her cousin.

"Eh?" Sakura said lazily. "Oh, no, and I doubt we ever will be, but I'm going to see him later tonight and I doubt his brother'll like it if I give a black eye to go with that hideous bruise." She pointed at the bluish mark that ran over the bridge of his nose and laughed.

"Wow, that's a bad looking bruise, how'd you get that Sasuke?" Tenten asked, smiling softly at Sakura.

"I tripped and fell." He said with a straight face. Everyone rolled their eyes, already knowing who the culprit was since _she_ was doing a victory dance. "But luckily Sakura was willing to help for the rest of the year as payment." He smirked as she stopped her dance suddenly.

"Payment?" Tenten asked, interested. "For what?"

"It was her foot I tripped over. She explained that she was naturally clumsy though and begged to make it up to me." He lied through his teeth, making it up on the spot. Everyone laughed. Knowing it was a lie but funny anyways.

This time the cup was aimed for the Uchiha. He dodged it easily, smirking at the furious girl. "See you tonight at 8" He whispered in her ear as he passed to walk onto the field. She shivered at the cold tone of his voice but soon she put on her own smirk.

"Making you fall for me is easier than I thought." She whispered to herself before joining her team on the field.

* * *

-Gasp- What does Sakura have planned? Why is Itachi inviting her to dinner? Who won the soccer game? :O

All shall be revealed in the next chapter 3

* * *

Want to make the author's day a little bit better?

Review - it's free and she'll luff you forever

;3

* * *


	3. Date? Not Likely

A/n: Everyone's reviews made me so happy! This chapter was supposed to be half the size it is now, but I wanted to make it longer for everyone.

Also, I fixed the other two chapters. I didn't know until this chapter that FF was taking out all of my breaks. So, now if you read it again you'll know when one scene ends and another begins.

More cursing since everyone's favorite Jashinist makes his first appearance.

* * *

"I. Am. Hot." Sakura said to her mirror image. Laughing, she twirled a few times to make sure everything looked good. Sasuke had informed her that the diner was formal so she decided on wearing her last prom dress. It was a Grecian style halter dress in black with hot pink lining on the bottom and above her waist. It was low cut showing just enough cleavage to get away with. It stopped right above her knees. She wore black heels to match her black purse.

She put just the tiniest amount of makeup on to make her eyes pop and drove to the Uchiha's house. Arriving there at five to eight, perfect time in her opinion, she strutted up to the door.

"Yo, Sasuke, open the damn door!" She yelled before even attempting to knock.

"Can't you just **pretend** to be female for once?" He asked angrily, opening the door. He was in all black with a simple red tie on. He looked hot, not that she'd ever tell him. He checked her out quickly. "I'm surprised you actually had a dress." He mumbled to himself, fixing his tie.

"You clean up nice." She said, sitting down on his long black leather couch like she lived there. "Where we going?"

"I don't really know, my brother just told me to invite you." He shrugged, picking up his keys, "No way am I getting into that ugly car again." He grabbed her wrists roughly, pulling her up, before she could complain.

He dragged her to his Ferrari and told her to get in quickly. "Say please." She ordered, crossing her arms.

"Now." He replied with a smirk. They stood there, both outside the black car, glaring at each other. Finally Sasuke looked down at his watch and cursed. "Fine, please get in the car now." He opened his door and hopped in. She followed suit, a victory smile dancing on her lips.

After a few minutes of silence, Sakura finally asked the question. "What did he invite me?"

Sasuke didn't turn his head, but he answered. "How the hell would I know?" She frowned at his statement and decided to leave it at that.

The rest of the thirty minute ride was awkward to say the least. Neither of them spoke or even made a noise. Sakura finally sighed a sigh of relief when they arrived at the lavish restaurant.

"Sushi?" She stared at the large three story sushi restaurant. Sasuke led her past a long waiting line, bypassing the guard, and up to the V.I.P. room.

He stopped just outside a door at the end of the hall and threw her a random glare. "Just to warn you, I doubt that this will be a quiet meal with just the three of us. My brother has some…scary friends and I suggest you watch yourself around them." He looked her over once. "I don't think they'd want anything from you though. Watch your language too." He added, opening the door to reveal at large room with a low table in the center.

Everyone in the room immediately turned to stare at the two newcomers. Sakura, who was behind Sasuke, looked around him and, having spotted Itachi, proceeded to wave violently at the older brother who just stared back lazily.

"You're late, Sasuke." Itachi stated. He pointed for Sasuke to sit next to him. "Sakura, you may sit next to Sasori and Deidara." He pointed to a boy with long blonde hair and a boy with short, messy red hair. Shrugging, Sakura sat in between the two.

"I'm sorry brother; _someone_ was refusing to get into the car." He shot a glare at Sakura who stuck her tongue out at the black-haired boy.

"Well, Sakura, let me introduce everyone." He introduced everyone in order from his left to his right, Sasuke, Hidan, Kakuzu, Sasori, Deidara, and finally Kisame.

"Nice to meet you all, I'm Haruno Sakura." They all nodded once as a greeting.

"Why the hell did you invite your brother, Itachi? I can understand why you invited a hot bitch like her, but him?" The silver haired man across from her, Hidan was it, yelled, pointing an accusing finger at Sasuke.

"Excuse you?" Sakura yelled just as loud as the man across her. "You can't just call me a bitch without knowing me, pink-eye!" She pointed a finger at his oddly colored eyes. "Oh, and thanks for calling me hot." She added with a smile.

"I don't fucking have pink-eye you pink-haired bitch!" He replied, his finger now pointing at her. She kicked his shin from underneath the table causing him to only yell more.

"Hidan, shut up." The masked man next to him ordered. Hidan just began yelling at him. "If you get us kicked out of another place I swear I will kill you myself." Sakura's eyes widened at the serious tone in his voice.

"Don't worry," the blonde next to her said cheerfully, "they always do this, yeah." She smiled at him, earning a smile from him.

"Shut up, both of you, idiots." Kisame ordered in a deep voice.

Sakura took note of his blue skin and gills. "Hey, aren't you about to eat your own kind?" She asked innocently, pointing at the tuna and salmon in front of him. This earned a few laughs from those around her. As expected though, Itachi and Sasuke didn't even smile.

"I'm not actually a fish, just fishy looking." The man replied. He looked like the eldest in the group.

"And probably fishy smelling too." She added under her breath. Deidara snickered and she saw Sasori hide a smile behind his hand.

"Sakura, feel free to eat whatever you want, yeah." Deidara stated as he filled up her plate with salmon and tuna galore. "You don't even need to worry about your figure in front of us." He added happily.

"You obviously haven't seen Sakura eat, Deidara. She's like a human garbage disposal." Sakura glared at the younger Uchiha and promptly threw her chopsticks at his head.

"Wow Sakura, you sure do have a temper. Maybe you can rival Hidan, yeah." The silver-haired man across her narrowed his eyes, taking the joke seriously.

"Listen here, pinky," Hidan demanded, pointing at her with his chopsticks. She barely dodged the piece of rice he flicked on accident. "I'm afraid to hit a fucking girl so don't annoy me, alright? You're too damn hot to kill."

"Just ask Sasuke where he got that bruise. I'm not afraid to hit a girl either." Hidan's eyes widened as everyone looked at Sasuke, mainly the blue bruise on his nose.

"Haha that loser got beat up by **a girl**?" Hidan began laughing, causing Sasuke to throw his chopsticks at the rude man.

"_Anyways_," Sakura began, trying to ignore Sasuke's glare-O'-doom, "Itachi, why **did** you invite, anyways?" Underneath the table she kicked Hidan yet again, earning a kick from him.

"I figured you'd be more entertaining. Obviously my assumption was correct." His answer was blunt and to the point, but she smiled nonetheless.

"I'm really good at just being myself I guess." She giggled. "Thanks for the invite by the way even though I had to spend thirty minutes with the icicle over there." Sakura was the queen of nonchalant and thus proved it by pointing to Sasuke while mouthing, "Jerk".

"It's a pleasure to have you here." Itachi replied formally.

"Sakura you should hang out with us more! I'm sure leader wouldn't mind if you showed up to some of our parties, yeah." Deidara said, happily stuffing his face with rice.

"Why would leader want some high school girl hanging out with us? Are you even legal?" Hidan sneered.

Sakura frowned, thinking for a second. "I don't know if I want you to know. I don't need **another** admirer following me."

Hidan snorted, "like I'd ever admire anyone. Just tell me little girl, how old are you?"

"Now, that's not a question you should ask a girl, but here, I'll humor you. I'm eighteen." Sakura stopped eating, suddenly full. "Hey Sasuke, can I know when we're leaving?" She asked sleepily, yawning heavily. It was past midnight and while the girl didn't have a curfew, she did appreciate what little sleep she got.

Sasuke looked at his watch, "Itachi, can we leave?"

Itachi shook his head, "I can tell when you're too tired, Sasuke. Sasori can drive her home, can't you?" Sasuke fumed at the thought of being put down, but knew that yelling would get him nowhere.

"That's fine, are you ready, Miss Haruno?" Sasori stood and held out his hand politely, looking down at her with his lazy eyes.

She smiled up at him, taking his hand, "Sure and you can call me Sakura, I don't mind, Sasori." He smiled at her softly before leading her out the door and to his car.

"Wow Itachi, never thought you'd actually meet a cool girl, yeah." Deidara said as he stood up to leave too.

"She is interesting, isn't she?" He asked no one in particular.

Sasuke didn't like the looks of what was happening and, while he'd never let anyone else know, he didn't like the thought of Sakura hanging out with his brother's friends.

--

"Thanks again for the ride, Sasori." She yawned, leaning back in his leather seats. They were still thirty minutes from her house since she decided to skip picking up her car from Sasuke's house.

"It's no problem at all, Sakura." She smiled at the way she said her name. It was deep and borderline awkward since she had to tell him multiple times already to just call her Sakura. "I should thank you for putting up with my partner and Hidan. I know from personal experience that they're much to handle."

She smiled, eyes closed. "Not at all, it was fun. When Sasuke told me that his brother had some scary friends I expected big guys with full body tattoos and bald heads. Well, Kisame does fit two of the three, but even he wasn't _that_ scary."

Sasori smiled. "Actually, Sasuke was probably right when he called us scary." She opened her eyes at his sad tone. "We're all very capable of hurting you, but everyone seems fond of you so I doubt any of us would actually want to hurt you. Just," he glanced at her to make sure she was awake, "don't forget that we can if we want to."

She frowned again. "Don't worry, I'll try to remember as long as you remember I'm not exactly helpless." She smiled at him, fully awake now. "While I don't think I can match you in physical strength, I'm not exactly stupid. I know when to run and when to stand my ground." She laughed to lighten the mood.

"What time do you need to be at school?" He asked, pulling up her driveway. She told him eight, asking why he needed to know. "I'll pick you up tomorrow."

She grinned goofily, the adrenaline from their previous conversation wearing off, "Thanks Sasori. You're so nice." She gave him a quick peck on the cheek before getting out of the car.

Sasori reached up to touch his cheek. Her lip gloss left an imprint of her lips on his cheek. Sighing softly, he started to drive to his own home

--

**Third Day at Konoha High**

--

"So Itachi's friends were there too?" Ino asked from her position on top of the bathroom counter. Sasori has accidently picked her up too early and luckily Ino and Hinata were there early as well.

"Yeah, they were all cool though. Sasori is so polite it's cute and one is so loud and rude! We ended up having a kick fight underneath the table. And one looks like a fish so I had to comment that he's a cannibal for eating his own kind. Oh, and one is so greedy it's not even funny. I dropped a quarter on the table and he dueled me for it. I won though and gained another quarter." She smiled at the odd memories of the night before.

Ino's eyes went wide, "Who knew Itachi would have such….colorful friends?"

"That's what I said. Sasori told me to be scared of them, but after meeting them all, I just don't think I ever could." Sakura laughed.

"Are you going to meet them again?" Hinata asked quietly.

"I hope so. Sasori has my number now in case he needs to reach me." Sakura shrugged as she finished her history worksheet.

"Wow Sakura, never thought of you as the forward type. Even Sasuke doesn't have your number yet!" Ino exclaimed as she jumped off the countertop, hands now on Sakura's shoulders. She shook the girl. "You better hurry up and get a damn boyfriend! Even Hinata's beating you!"

Hinata's eye widened as her face turned bright red. "Ino I-I di-didn't think you'd kn-know." She stuttered, something she hadn't done in years.

Ino put a hand on the shy girl and sighed. "Honey, I know everything."

"Wait, Naruto finally asked you out?" Sakura said quickly. The blue-haired girl's blush grew considerably.

"Actually, she asked _him_ out. Surprising, isn't it?" Ino said as she propped herself against the wall.

"Hinata! I didn't think you had it in you!" Sakura yelled, happy for the tiny girl.

"I-I…" The red-faced girl trailed off. "It was nothing." She whispered. "I just asked if he…he wanted to go for some ramen after school. He called it a date." Sakura pulled on her red ears playfully.

"That's so cute Hinata! You guys make the cutest couple ever." Ino coughed from behind the emerald-eyed girl. "Don't worry, you guys are cute when Shikamaru's awake and you're not yelling at him." Both girls stuck out their tongues simultaneously.

"How did you mom react when you showed up at midnight? She had to have been pissed." Ino asked out of the blue.

"She's out of town for the month, another stupid fashion show." Sakura rolled her eyes, obviously not impressed.

"Well, she **is** a fashion designer." Ino said flippantly before the bell rang.

"I guess you're right, but hey, while she's out you two want to come over Friday?" Sakura asked, picking up her book and backpack. She didn't have a father so whenever her mother went to another country for her fashion; Sakura had sleepovers to keep herself company.

"Sounds good to me." Ino slung her own book-bag over her shoulder and waved before darting out of the bathroom to meet Shikamaru.

"It sounds like fun." Hinata rushed out too, leaving Sakura alone.

Sakura frowned, something was not right. Hinata and Ino usually jumped at the chance to have a sleepover, but this time they were both…uninterested. Shaking her head, Sakura walked out he bathroom.

"Sakura, has your skirt gotten shorter?" Tsunade asked curiously. As her aunt, she was overprotective but not as much as her own mother. The school's rule for skirts was to the tips of your fingers, but since it was a uniform they rarely had any trouble with short skirts.

Sakura looked down at her skirt. She had never mended it and even bought the long version of the green and white pleated skirt, but Tsunade was right. The skirt now stopped right above her wrists.

"I swear I didn't do this on purpose." Sakura said, looking at the back of her skirt. It was even shorter than the front.

Tsunade's eyebrows furrowed but the well-endowed woman just shrugged and walked off, leaving it at that. Sakura shrugged too and walked to English with Kakashi. Upon sitting in her secluded chair (the only person willing to sit near her was Sasuke) she noticed her skirt was twice as short, barely showing her black boy short-underwear.

"What the-," she gasped over dramatically. A thick string was leading from her skirt to the doorway where a certain Uchiha stood, holding a large pile of thread. A smirk played on his lips. "The hell are you doing, Sasuke?!" She yelled, pointing an accusing finger at him.

He just kept his smirk. "I noticed a string was loose and decided to help you," "More like grab my ass." Sakura mumbled. "So I pulled it and it just got longer and longer while you skirt got shorter and shorter." He walked over and threw the pile on her lap before sitting in his chair.

"This is so uncool, Uchiha." She hissed before grinning. "But at least I always keep a pair of sweats in my locker." She hopped up, flashing Sasuke her black underwear, and ran out the room.

Shikamaru, who was for once on time, turned to Sasuke, "She does know that she's flashing everyone as she runs, right?" He asked lazily with a smirk. Sasuke's permanent smirk just widened.

Meanwhile Sakura quickly changed into her large pink sweatpants. It was August so the few students that were left in the hall gave her weird looks and whispered as she passed. Like always she ignored them, holding the remains of her skirt in her hand.

"Sakura, you're late." Kakashi said as she walked into the classroom five minutes late. He didn't even look up at her and kept reading his book, occasionally writing on the board.

She walked up to his desk and threw her skirt at him. He caught it with ease and, after seeing what it was, immediately dropped it as if it were burning. "I could get in serious trouble for touching a student's skirt, Sakura." He teased. She picked up the skirt and glared at her old teacher.

"Kakashi you pervert." Before he could disagree she held up her hand. "Trust me, if I wore this skirt you'd be all over me." She laughed, holding up the now mini-mini skirt. All the students behind her (Minus the sleeping Shikamaru and the stoic Sasuke) laughed, some of them agreeing with her.

Kakashi thought for a second, putting down his book. "You're right Sakura, if you wore that I probably would be a pervert." He said thoughtfully. "I'll allow you to wear the pants today, but you have to convince Jiraiya yourself." She groaned. Jiraiya was her last class for the day since she didn't have PE. He was just the study hall monitor and assistant principal, but he acted as if he was principal.

She groaned. "Good luck." Kakashi said before giving her the assignment for the semester. They had to pick out a book, write an analysis on it, and then present it before the class for their midterm in May.

Sakura sat on her desk and went on the list of books to pick out. Getting bored, she crumpled up the paper and threw it at the raven-haired boy in front of her.

"Do I look like a trash bin to you?" He paused before shaking his head slowly. "Actually, don't answer that. You left your car at my house." He whispered the last part so that no one else could hear.

"Yeah, I know. Sasori said he'd drive me to pick it up after school. He's a lot nicer than you said he'd be."

Sasuke frowned, but she didn't notice since she was too busy thinking of ways to hem the skirt and make it cute enough to wear outside of school. "They're a lot more dangerous than they appeared last night." He hissed. "Usually they end up drunk and fighting with each other, sending at least one innocent bystander to the hospital without a hint of regret." He stared at her, waiting for the shock.

"So? Sasori told me about the time Kisame got really drunk and punched Itachi on accident." She laughed, causing a few of the students to glance at her. "And he told me about the time he stabbed a guy for cheating him out of fifteen cents. I'm fine with their violence. Actually, I find it pretty funny." She giggled, but upon seeing his serious frown, stopped. "Don't worry. Sasori told me that he doubted any of his friends would hurt me."

Sasuke sighed. "I'm not worried about them hurting you. I just don't want you to see that type of violence." He whispered. Her eyes widened just a bit.

"Aww…is the little Uchiha brat finally taking a liking to his old friend?" She teased, smacking his face lightly with both hands.

He scowled at her. "Not in the slightest. I just don't want your blood on my conscious." He stated simply before turning around.

"I didn't know you even had a conscious." She joked playfully. He didn't reply and instead just started reading his book. Frowning, she decided to take a nap before class ended.

--

"Hey!" Sakura yelled, pushing the freshman out of her way as she ran to Sasori's car. Once inside she took a deep breath before smiling at the older man.

"Hello," he started polite as ever, "how was your day?" He eyed her pink sweat pants knowing that she wasn't wearing them in the morning.

"Sasuke ripped up my skirt." She held the short skirt up to Sasori. "But it's all cool; I'll get back at him tomorrow." She grinned at the redhead. Sasori nodded in approval before driving off.

"Hey, Sasori what did you do today?" She asked, looking at the small cut near his eye.

He was silent for a few seconds before smiling at her sadly. "It's ok, Sakura. Hidan decided that he needed to fight and I was available."

She pulled out a small band aid and put it on his cheek. "It has anti-bacterial ointment already on it, so no need to worry about an infection." She said happily.

He glanced at her. "Do you always carry band aids with you?"

She nodded. "Of course, doesn't everybody?" She smiled at him cheerfully. "How old are you?"

He raised an eyebrow at her out-of-the-blue question but answered anyways. "25, my birthday is July 11, my blood type is AB, my favorite color is red, and my favorite food is yakisoba."

Sakura's eye widened. "Can you read minds?"

He smiled again. "Not at all, but I know that you and Deidara are somewhat alike so I figured that you'd ask the same questions he did when we first me." He pulled up into Sasuke's driveway behind two cars she hadn't seen there before. Before she could ask, he answered. "Hidan's and Kisame's."

She nodded slowly before getting out of his car. "Thanks for the rides, Sasori."

"YO! It's the pink bitch!" She groaned, hearing the familiar voice and _feeling_ the finger he pointed at her. "What the hell are you doing here? Are you fucking stalking us or something?" The silver-haired man exclaimed, appearing right next to her suddenly. Deidara, who was behind Hidan, waved happily at her with a bright smile on; she waved back.

After waving, she immediately put her hands on her hips and leered at the older man. "Who the hell would follow **you**? If you haven't noticed most girls don't go for old guys with pink-eye." She poked him hard in the chest, wincing as her finger made contact with muscle.

He grabbed her hand and put it on his chest, pulling her closer. "Like what you feel, pinky?" He said in a deep voice. She blushed furiously, glancing at the ground quickly. "Thought so." He grinned, pulling her even closer, arms wrapping around her waist.

"Hidan let Sakura go, yeah." Deidara said, noting that the girl was bright red, obviously not used to men.

"Why should I. She told us she was eighteen so it's not like I'm going to jail." He said, still holding the girl closer than she wanted to be. She trying to squirm free, but he just held tighter.

"You're still old. Pick on girls your own age, yeah." "I'm not _that_ old and besides, what's wrong with liking eighteen year olds?" He grinned maliciously. "Besides, Sasori practically spent the whole night doing who-knows-what with her so why can't I get a turn?"

"I drove her home that's all." Sasori stated in a slightly annoyed tone as he leaned against his sports car.

"Can you let go of me now. This is beyond uncomfortable and I have homework to do." She pulled herself free of the man and glared at him. He smiled slyly in response. She frowned, eyes narrowing, and stepped a few feet away from him lest he reach out to her again.

"Awww…Sakura you have so soon, yeah?" Deidara asked, pouting.

She grinned sheepishly. "Yeah, I have to write a report on how teenage girls are indecent these days because Sasuke ripped my skirt." She held up the short skirt for the hundredth time as a reflex. Hidan tried to grab it, but she was quicker and stuffed it in her backpack.

"You should wear that sometimes. I'm sure even the cold Uchiha brothers would melt, yeah." Deidara said with a snicker. Itachi (who had joined the group that was outside _his_ house) glared at the blonde coldly before walking back inside and locking the door.

Sakura grinned. "I know, but you should see the P.E. uniform sometime, now _that's_ revealing." She giggled before heading to her car. "Hey, Sasori, can you make sure that Hidan doesn't get my number?" She yelled at the redhead before driving off.

Hidan shot a pointed look at the older boy. "You better give me that damn number." He ordered.

Sasori, unfazed as always, raised an eyebrow. "Who says?" He asked before walking inside the large, now unlocked, mansion.

* * *

Not sure if Hidan actually has pink eyes, but..oh well it fit the mood I was in when I wrote it.

And..as a special treat (or torture?) here's a preview of the next chapter:

**"What's going on? You guys are all acting weird." Her pink eyebrows furrowed and the corner of her mouth turned down.**

**He looked up, eyes colder than ever, and stared at her for a few seconds. "Why would you think that? Can't you mind your own business for once?" She heard him mumble 'annoying' under his breath and froze. He wasn't usually so...frigid with her. Cold, yes, but he never said that to her.**

-gasp-

Who's being mean to Sakura? Find out in the next chapter :D

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	4. A Badly Kept Secret

A/n: Yay. 14 reveiws, that's 4 more than the last one! Let's try and make it 20 reviews this time? :)

--

**Third week at Konoha High**

--

"So, Sasuke, got any idea what the trip is? Sakura asked lazily. She was reclining in her desk, feet up on the table with her arms crossed.

Over the past three weeks Sasuke and Sakura had developed a…love-hate (always veering dangerously close to hate more often than not) relationship. She had bleached the back of his spiky hair and he had cut her hair a few inches in retaliation. Luckily he hadn't asked her for many favors over the few months, but he had made it clear that he'd want her to clean his house once a week during the break.

Sakura's relationship with Itachi and his friends had grown (Minus Kakuzu who was off on various jobs). Hidan still hit on her, but after she gave him a black eye his pursuits became more frequent. **Somehow** he had acquired her cell phone number (most likely all thanks to Sasuke who was still angry over the fact that she posted his number on his fanclub's website) and now called her every week asking for a date.

Sasori was polite as ever, but he had loosened up somewhat. He called her Sakura and even let **her** drive **him** to Itachi's house (which had become a meeting place) once.

Deidara was much looser with Sakura though. He even came over to her last two slumber parties and fit right in with Tenten, Ino, and Hinata. All together the whole group was fun to be around even if Sasuke hated the fact that she was around them so much.

"I heard that we'll be going to a hot springs or to a ski resort." He mumbled as he finished his report for Kakashi's class that she had finished long ago.

She grinned. "Well, if it does happen to be a ski resort then I challenge you to a snowboarding match."

He didn't even turn to look at her. "I don't snowboard. I hate the cold." He stated.

Sakura feigned shock. "But aren't you an icicle? I figured that you _loved_ cold since that seems to be the only emotion you have."

"Haha." He said dryly. She frowned. Usually he'd give some smartass remark to piss her off, but today he was unusually docile. Same with Ino, hell, even the timid Hinata was avoiding her.

"What's going on? You guys are all acting weird." Her pink eyebrows furrowed and the corner of her mouth turned down.

He looked up, eyes colder than ever, and stared at her for a few seconds. "Why would you think that? Can't you mind your own business for once?" She heard him mumble 'annoying' under his breath and froze. He wasn't usually so...frigid with her. Cold, yes, but he never said that to her.

She was still frowning when the bell rang. Quickly grabbing her things, she decided then and there to ditch for the rest of the day.

Sneaking out to her car (Ever watchful of her scary aunt) she drove off to the only coffee shop in the area. Konoha Coffee.

Grabbing her usual, she sat at her regular corner table, away from the college kids who stared at her uniform and hair.

She was there not even ten minutes before she heard a familiar voice. "Didn't expect to see you here, Sakura." She looked up and saw Itachi.

Smiling weakly she pointed to the chair across from her. "What brings you here Itachi? I know you have an espresso machine so you aren't here for that." She leaned against the soft chair and sipped her drink slowly.

"I like the cakes." He said blankly. "I'm wondering what would bring you here though. Don't you have school?" He asked politely. If anyone could beat Sasori in a 'Who has more manners' contest, it'd be Itachi.

She blew her, now short, bangs out of her eyes. "Sasuke was a jerk, nothing new. I just feel that everyone's hiding something from me." She smiled at the older man. It was easy to tell him things since, unlike most of her friends, he listened.

He seemed to genuinely think it over before speaking. "Maybe they are hiding something." He took a bite of the pound cake before continuing. "I don't think that it could possibly something horrible, though. Perhaps it's something that they're too embarrassed to talk about?" She smiled at him. He was probably right, but Sasuke's words still stung.

Knowing that she wasn't telling everything, Itachi waited. Patience was his game and he knew how to play with bad cards. "You can tell me anything, Sakura." He said, staring at her blankly. Itachi knew she saw him almost as an older brother and he also knew when to use that as an advantage.

She groaned. "Sasuke called me annoying. I can't believe to admit it, but it actually hurt my feelings." Her face scrunched up cutely.

Itachi just continued to look at her even after they were finished with their drinks and food. "It's fine to be hurt sometimes, Sakura." He said before leaving. She was shocked that he would say something so…un-Itachi-like.

She shook her head before following him out the door, making sure to throw away her trash as she did so.

The drive home was…boring to say the least. Sakura liked it quiet when she was thinking but for someone so used to noise (A.K.A Ino and Naruto) the silence was awkward.

_Maybe he didn't mean to sound so…rude._ Sakura thought to herself, trying to convince herself as she drove to her home. She saw her mother's red convertible and cursed, hitting her head on the steering wheel.

"Hey, Darling, want some tea?" Her mother said cheerfully from the kitchen. Sakura didn't hate her mother, in fact, she loved her mother dearly. It's just that the teenage girl did not need another best friend.

"Not right now, I have a report to write. Welcome back, Mom." She yelled as she ran up the stairs, throwing her backpack down on the floor with a large 'thump'. Immediately she started on her report, taking a break only to ask her mother to hem her skirt. Not surprisingly, she finished the report in less than an hour.

Stretching, she let out an angry sigh. Her report was mostly her anger unleashed upon all men and society, but then again, the paper was for Anko (one of her favorite teachers and famed hard-ass).

_-Ring Ring-_

"Hello?" Sakura never checked to see who was calling her since it was always just the same people: Hidan, Deidara, Ino, and Hinata.

"Sakura?" She perked up since Sasori never called her. "Itachi told me that you left school today and Deidara was wondering if you would want to go to the mall today." His voice was smooth and eloquent as always.

"Sure, what time?" She made a mental note to thank Itachi. Sasori asked if an hour would good. "I'll see you then!" She waved, then blushed remembering that he couldn't see her.

Taking a shower she dressed in tight jeans and a pink halter. Giving her mother a quick goodbye and a 'welcome back' she sped off to the mall.

"Sakura!" As soon as she stepped out of her small car her vision turned blonde. "Deidara! What the hell? Get off!" She playfully smacked the blonde's head and in return he threw her over his shoulder.

Sakura punched the blonde's back, yelling for him to let her go. "Not a chance Sakura, yeah." He replied with a grin.

After a few more minutes of being carried Sakura gave up and resigned herself to being carried. At the entrance to the large mall, the older man finally let her stand.

"I'm surprised you didn't decide to carry me through the entire mall." She teased.

"I can still pick you up, yeah." He reached out to grab her, but she ran behind Sasori.

"You can't hide behind me, Sakura." Sasori said, moving out of the line of fire. Sakura pouted before pulling both men into the mall.

"So," she began as she sat both men down in the food court, "why are we here again?" She began eating her Chinese food, watching as Deidara practically inhaled his pizza.

Deidara shot Sasori a quick glance that Sakura noted suspiciously before answering. "We're here to have fun, yeah." His plain answer didn't convince her at all.

"Don't tell me you two are hiding something too!" She groaned, putting her head in her hands dramatically.

Deidara frowned and looked at Sasori who was now glaring at the blonde. "I'm not hiding anything, yeah!" He said. The pink-haired girl's eyes narrowed and she frowned. After a few minutes of decided he chose that Sakura's wrath was worse than Sasori's. "Fine! Everyone-was-planning-a-surprise-party-for-you, yeah." He yelled, causing everyone else in the food court to stare at him.

Her eyes widened. "A surprise party for me? Why? My birthday's not for a few more months."

Sasori sighed before shooting the blonde another death glare. "Ino and Hinata told us that you were accepted into that famous medical school. They've been planning the party for a month now. We're all in on it, Itachi, Me, Ino, Naruto, and even Sasuke." He stole her smoothie, taking a few sips before returning it to her.

Sakura was speechless. "I didn't tell anyone I got into that college. Actually, come to think of it, I didn't tell anyone that I even applied to that college."

"Ino said she saw it in you room, yeah." Deidara said smiling. "The party's sometime this week, but I won't tell you when."

"It's obviously going to be on Saturday. That's the only day Ino likes to party." Sakura said. "So, Sasuke and Itachi are in on this too?" She was still sad about what the boy had said to her.

"Yep! Sasuke was just told yesterday though. He was given strict orders to not even give you a hint so when Itachi heard he snapped at you he wasn't very surprised, yeah." Deidara spilled.

"Itachi knew that Sasuke has a problem keeping secrets from people he's even somewhat close to." Sasori took her drink again. "So he wanted us to take you out to try and get you to forget about the incident."

Sakura smiled before kicking the redhead lightly on the shins. "That's for taking my drink. Now, let's shop." An evil glint flickered in her eyes and both boys swallowed at the thought of the pink menace's shopping habits.

--

**Three Hours Later**

--

"Sakura, can we please stop now, yeah?" A very exhausted Deidara asked from his slumped over position on the wooden bench outside the clothing store. In his hands were two large bags.

"Nope." She replied perkily. "I still have to get some underwear, but you guys can stay out here for that." She laughed at the blush on Deidara's cheeks.

"I'll go in." Sasori said, not blushing in the slightest.

Sakura blushed at the thought of the handsome man picking out a bra with her. "Hell no, Sasori." She turned and walked in to the red and pink store, leaving the two men with her multiple shopping bags.

"You were actually willing to go in there, yeah?" Deidara asked, wide-eyed.

"Of course, what's wrong with it?" Sasori said bluntly.

"That's a _women's underwear_ store!" Deidara whispered loudly, pointing at the offending store.

Sasori looked over lazily at the blonde. "So? I've been with plenty of women. Seeing the things in there wouldn't be new." He smirked at the blonde's wide eyed expression and would have continued if Sakura hadn't walked out of the store carrying two more bags.

Deidara was about to offer to carry the bags but Sakura held them close to her chest. "I can carry these." Smiling she followed the two out of the large mall and went to her car. "Thanks for today guys. Oh, and don't worry, I'll act surprised for the stupid party." She got in a drove off with Deidara waving at her.

"Think she suspected anything, yeah?" Deidara whispered in case the scary girl could still hear him.

"Not at all." Sasori smiled softly.

"You know she's going to kills us when she finds out, yeah." Deidara stated before following the redhead.

* * *

No Preview since I just finished this chapter and I figured this little cliffhanger was good enough. :D

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	5. A Party, A Kiss or Two, and Bowling

Short, but important nonetheless!

Next chapter will have SakuraxSasuke - I promise!

--

"Sakura, you have a call from Ino." Her mother yelled as soon as the pink-haired girl put her thing away. Sakura told her mother that she had the phone before answering.

"What do you want, Ino?" Not exactly the nicest greeting Sakura could give her friend.

Ino was unfazed (as always). "Come over tonight!" Sakura cringed, holding the phone away from her. "I've invited all the girls over for a huge slumber party! If you aren't over here in an hour then you aren't invited anymore. Bye!" Sakura stared at the phone blankly before shrugging.

After a quick shower she packed her clothes, said goodbye to her mother, and drove to her friend's house. Outside she recognized Tenten's jeep and Hinata's Mercedes. It was Friday and rare to see the blue-haired girl not on a date with her blonde boyfriend.

Sakura rang the doorbell of Ino's large house before hearing Ino yell 'its open' and walked in.

"Surprise!" Sakura's mouth opened and she dropped her bag at the crowd in front of her. All her friends were standing around her, smiling (Well _most_ were smiling since some were incapable of it) and wearing party hats.

"What the hell?" She whispered. "Ino, you **never** have parties on Friday!" Sakura stared at her smiling friend in confusion.

Ino's grin widened as she walked over to Sakura, putting an arm around her shoulders. "I sent Itachi for you who sent Deidara and Sasori to distract you. Worked like a charm, right?"

"So you guys planned everything?" Sakura said. She was so surprised she didn't even notice when Ino slipped on a pointed birthday hat on her head.

"Yep! Sasuke played his part to a T! Really, that boy should act. Now, if you don't mind me, I have a party to run." Ino ran off to do her hostess duties, leaving Sakura with Sasuke.

She smiled at the boy next to her. "You weren't acting at all, were you?"

"Not at all, but she's nice to think of that. I'm sorry about today too." He glanced away as Sakura laughed.

"You never apologize so I'll believe you this time, but don't say that to me again of you'll face the wrath that I'm about to unleash on Itachi, Deidara, and Sasori." She cracked her knuckles, a large grin on. Sasuke pointed to the blonde hair in the dancing crowd in what was once Ino's living room.

She stalked over, narrowly dodging the dancers before putting her hand on the older man's shoulder. He immediately stopped dancing with a random girl and laughed weakly. "Ah…Sakura, surprise?"

"Who put you up to it? Don't say Ino because I expected a dirty trick from Ino, but from you three?" She held onto his shirt and glared at him. He just smiled again.

"It was Itachi, I swear!" He held up his hands in defense, but she was already in search of the elder Uchiha.

"Hinata!" Sakura panted, holding onto the wall. "Damn, dodging these drunkards is harder than I thought. Who the hell brought alcohol anyways?" She turned to the shy girl and her face went blank. "Don't tell me you're drunk too."

"Yep!" Hinata said cheerfully, sipping on her fruity drink. Her face was redder than usual and it seemed to Sakura that the girl was smiling ever more than usual.

"I don't want to know how Neji will react to this." Sakura shook her head. "Anyways, have you seen Itachi?" The girl pointed to the kitchen before she went off in search of Naruto.

Sakura ran to the kitchen and found her target. Luckily, no one else was in the room to witness the murder of Uchiha Itachi.

"Itachi, I can't believe you'd trick me like this." She pointed her finger at him, stomping up to him. He looked down at her, face as emotionless as always. "You could have just told me yourself, you didn't need to bring Sasori and Deidara into it too!"

"They volunteered." His answer was simple and she frowned.

"I'm not sure if your definition of 'volunteer' is the same as everyone else's. And have you been drinking too?" She could smell some of the alcohol on his breath and scrunched up her nose.

He nodded, still emotionless. Sakura smiled. "At least you don't act like a complete idiot when you drink. You should see a drunk Shikamaru. He's-," Itachi cut her off, kissing her roughly. His arms went to her waist and he pulled her closer to him, his nails digging into her side. They stayed that way, Sakura shocked, until he bit her lip hard, making her lip bleed, and let go. He walked away without a second look.

Sakura wiped at her lip with a napkin, tears welling up in her eyes. _What the hell?_ She thought, licking her sore lips. Pulling up her shirt she dabbed at the tiny half moon cuts above her hip. Wiping at her eyes, she went in search of Ino.

"Ino," she found the girl in the bathroom, reapplying her makeup, "I'm-I'm going home."

Ino turned sharply to look at her long time friend, concern dancing behind her flirty eyes. "What happened?" She closed the door, blocking out the loud dance music, and sat the pink haired girl on the side of the bathtub. She sat next to her.

"Itachi kissed me." Sakura said solemnly.

Ino clicked her tongue. "That's all? I figured the guy liked you, I mean, everyone guy does." She laughed, but stopped when Sakura didn't even smile.

"It wasn't an 'I like you' kiss. He was," Sakura trailed off with a sigh. "He was probably drunk." She said finally.

Ino rolled her eyes, turning the pink-haired girl to stare directly at her. "Don't excuse him for being drunk. Plus, most likely he wasn't."

"How can you be so sure?"

Ino rolled her eyes _again_. "Trust me; Itachi isn't the type of person to just get drunk at a party. He's too guarded to do that." Ino patted her on the shoulder. "Why don't you go home, trust is I doubt anyone will notice that you're gone." They both stood up. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone about this, but I do think you should talk to Itachi about it someday." Sakura nodded before the both left the bathroom.

Sakura began walking to her car, but stopped suddenly. "Sasori? Shouldn't you be inside partying?"

He looked up at her. "I could ask you the same. Are you okay?" He stood from his leaning position and met her halfway to her car.

"Of course I'm fine. I'm just tired, parties aren't really my thing." She laughed weakly, hoping he'd go away. He didn't so she just walked past him.

"I saw what Itachi did." His voice made her stop in her tracks and spin to look at him. "I don't know _why_ he did it though." She frowned knowing that Sasori liked to observe people and obviously he wasn't expecting what Itachi did.

"Don't worry about that. I'm fine, really." He walked up to her and put his cold hand to her cheek slowly. "I said I'm fine Sasori. He didn't hurt me." Her eyebrows furrowed for a second before she noticed him lean in. Grabbing the back of her head lightly, he pulled her to him, causing her to meet him halfway. His lips barely grazed her before she smacked him.

"What the hell, Sasori?" she wiped at her lips furiously before getting into her car and speeding away.

"You just messed up, yeah." Deidara said as Sasori walked to the large house silently. "You shouldn't have been so worried about Itachi. Now she hates you too, yeah." Sasori punched Deidara hard in the face before opening the door. Deidara just smiled, rubbing at his face.

--

"Sakura? I thought Ino had some surprise party planned for you today." Her lazy teacher said, barely glancing from his book to see his student walk into the bowling alley. Kakashi didn't bowl, but his co-workers did and watching a drunk Gai bowl was priceless.

"Yeah, it was fun." She said meekly, joining her teacher at the bar to watch her teacher bowl.

"Something happen?" He said, flipping to the next page while drinking his beer through his mask. She signed before hitting her head on the table. "I'll take that as a yes." He raised an eyebrow at his student, worrying inside about what happened. "If someone hurt you then you know that we have means to get revenge."

She laughed. "It's fine, just some…love problems I guess." Kakashi made an 'Ah' noise. She raised her head and turned to the older man. "Hey, Kakashi, have you ever been kissed when you didn't know you were going to by a close friend?" She asked hopefully.

Kakashi was silent. Truth be told…he was remembering what happened last week. "Actually, I have." He said sadly. "Last week Gai got really drunk and began kissing everyone."

Sakura laughed, holding her hands up. "Not like that!" She giggled again before ordering French fries. "Itachi and Sasori kissed me today." Kakashi turned to stare at her. He was not expecting that. "I don't know why though." She laughed again.

"Perhaps they like you?" He asked, going back to his book. Meanwhile Asuma just got another strike and Gai was threatening to beat him by 500 points. No one wanted to tell the man that 500 points wasn't possible in bowling.

"I hope not." She leaned against the bar, eating her fresh fries while she did so. "I want a boyfriend, but I don't think I could juggle two boyfriends at once especially not Itachi and Sasori." She sighed, eyeing Kakashi's beer before he snatched it out of her reach.

"I doubt Tsunade would want you to date them anyways." He continued before she could speak, "They're both known for their ruthless fighting habits. Even when they were in school rumors flew about the fights they got into."

"They fought each other?" She asked.

"No, they fought anyone. I'm surprised Tsunade doesn't mind you hanging out with that crowd actually. They were all good students, but they all sent at least a few people to the hospital in their time." Kakashi remember the quiet group from his earlier teaching days.

"Sasori told me that he gets into fights. That doesn't bother me as much as the fact that he kissed me. Actually," she paused, thinking, "None of that creeps me out as much as the fact that I'm telling you all of this."

Kakashi shrugged. "I've heard weirder from a drunk Tsunade." Sakura giggled having seen her aunt get drunk on many occasions. "What about Sasuke?" Kakashi asked suddenly, throwing her off guard.

"What about him?" She laughed as a very pregnant Kurenai smacked her husband for losing another round to Gai and Tsunade. Every loss was a round of beers on the loser and shortly after learning of this new rule Tsunade became a pro bowler.

Kakashi just gaped at the girl for a split second before regaining his composure. "If I remember correctly you were the one who made it her sole mission to make the Uchiha fall in love with, right?"

She sighed. "I guess so, but he's pretty boring compared to everyone else. It's too easy to make him fall for me so I decided to wait a little before putting my plan in full action." Kakashi raised an eyebrow as he asked about her plan she just grinned. "Like I'd tell you, Kakashi. I know that Sasuke's your favorite student and you'd help him if I told you."

He knew she was right. If she had an ingenious plan to make the Uchiha fall in love with her, Kakashi would most likely end up telling his student the plan. "Do you even like the boy anymore?"

She scoffed. "I used to a lot, but now? Not in the least." She laughed, taking another fry and popping it into her mouth.

"Then what's the point of playing such an immature game if you don't even like him anymore?" Kakashi asked calmly, smirking underneath his mask as her cheeks turned red. "Unless you still have feelings for him and are trying to hide it." His smirk turned into a smile as her blush grew, matching her pink hair.

"Of-of course I couldn't like that cold-hearted freak." She stumbled, crushing the empty Styrofoam cup in her hands. "He's a mean person." She whispered to herself.

Kakashi patted her head softly. "That doesn't stop your feelings though." She shot him a glare, but made no move to make him stop. "I'm sure if you told him your feelings that he'd tell you his."

She rolled her eyes. "I've told him that he's a bastard a hundred time." Kakashi raised an eyebrow and she sighed. "Fine, say I did tell him that I….somewhat liked him, then what? He tells me he likes me and we go out just like that?" She jumped off the chair and turned to look at her teacher, fists clenched around the Styrofoam pieces.

"That's usually how it goes for teenagers, right? You know he likes you, it was all part of your plan, you just aren't sure of you own feelings since you didn't expect to fall for him either. Build a bridge and get over it." Sakura muffled her laughs at the last part of his speech.

She smiled after her laughter left. "Maybe I will, who knows. Sasuke _has_ gotten a bit better since the last time I confessed." She crinkled her nose at the memory but continued. "Thanks, Kakashi, now," she threw the Styrofoam pieces in the trash, "since I'm here I have to save poor Asuma from my Aunt and his wife." She flexed her arm and ran off to help her teacher bowl before his wife divorced him over losing their house to Tsunade's bets.

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:D Please review. I'll still upload if you don't, but the encouragement really does help!

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	6. A Trip and A Bet

:D Everyone's reviews made me so happy!

This is already the second longest story I've ever written :P

--

**Fifth Week at Konoha High**

--

"Sakura if you don't wake up right now I'll be forced to make you sit next to Gai on the way back." Kakashi whispered in his pupil's ear. The pink-haired girl just swatted at his head, rolling over to face the window.

The seniors of Konoha High had picked their first trip to be at the ski resort (mostly due to Sakura and Ino's skills of _persuasion_ which Shikamaru had right dubbed 'threatening'). Every homeroom had been divided into a bus leaving Kakashi with his unusually homeroom.

Though Sakura hadn't talked to him since that night, he knew that she hadn't told the Uchiha her feelings. The boy was completely oblivious to the girl aside from the hidden glances only someone as observant at the masked man could notice. Knowing that the girl, that was like his daughter, and the boy, his favorite student, would both be too stubborn to talk during the trip he decided to 'randomly' assign seats. Even then the emerald-eyed girl seemed destined to further deviate from his matchmaking plans.

"Wake up, idiot." Sasuke mumbled, nudging her with his elbow softly. His face showed his annoyed at the girl who had fallen asleep as soon as she sat down.

Kakashi poked the girl with his book, causing her head to loll over onto the Uchiha's shoulder. Her body soon followed, curling up against the shocked boy. Kakashi smirked and turned around to sit down.

"You aren't going to wake her up anymore?" Sasuke said tensely, eyeing the girl whose arms were now wrapping around his neck.

"No need to. I just wanted to make sure she didn't wake up with a sore neck." Kakashi inwardly praised himself at his brilliant on-the-spot answer. Shikamaru snorted from the front row, but otherwise kept to himself. He was Ino's best spy on the budding couple after all.

Sasuke sighed and tried his best to keep still so that the girl next to him wouldn't wake up. He knew her temper well enough to know that if she woke up around him like this that she would immediately accuse him of putting her there.

_That's it_, he thought sourly, _Kakashi is now top on my who-I-hate list._ He knew that Kakashi was very aware of his crush on the girl and he also knew that the man would go to any lengths to get the two together. The thought made the Uchiha's eye twitch.

He growled low as the girl nuzzled her head into his chest. Sasuke wasn't immune to the female body and having it pressed up against him wasn't helping the situation.

_Control…_He thought, gritting his teeth in the process. Her scent of vanilla and honey filled his nose causing him to immediately stop breathing. That worked for about a minute. The two boys next to him snickered at the Uchiha's obvious discomfort.

_God this'll be a long trip_.

--

Sakura stretched, rolling her shoulders as she raised her head from her pillow. "That was a nice nap, don't you think so Sasuke?" She grinned cheekily at the boy before frowning. "Hey, what's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost." She pulled on his cheeks playfully.

He took in a deep breath before standing up and walking out of the bus without another word. Frowning (something she was doing a lot these days), she caught the eyes of Shikamaru who followed Sasuke out of the bus.

Walking out, she was jumped by an oh-so familiar blonde. "Ino! Get off of me!" She wrestled out of the girl's iron grip before falling to the cold ground. Once she was on her feet again she yelled, "What the hell was that for?"

"I never thought you'd be one to make such a bold move but I'm glad you did! Sasuke's face was bright red!" She nudged the confused girl in the ribs, winking slyly.

"What are you talking about? I slept the entire trip!" Sakura yelled, thoroughly confused.

Ino's perfectly shaped eyebrows furrowed and she brought her purple gloved hand, putting a finger on her chin in thought. "Well, Shikamaru said that you curled right up against the poor guy. He didn't mention anything about _sleep_ though." She shrugged, obviously not caring if the 'move' (as she put it) was on accident. "At least we know he's easily embarrassed." The blonde eyed the pink-haired girl's blush and rolled her eyes.

Turning to Hinata, the blonde leaned down and whispered, "Love birds, who knew?" The blue-haired girl giggled before catching Sakura's glare.

"Ah, come on Sakura, it is pretty funny." Naruto said before putting her arm over the blushing Hinata. He held the shy girl close without hesitation. Before Sakura could argue Gai was already yelling out partners.

Luckily, the teachers knew what students fit well together and called them out. "Naruto and Hinata! Ino and Shikamaru!" Gai's loud voice bellowed, causing the tourists to stop, stare, and inevitably pull out camera's to film the green man. "And finally Sakura and Sasuke!" Sakura groaned.

_Somehow, I just knew this would happen_, she thought as the onyx eyed boy walked over to her. He looked as cold as ever. "Lighten up, man. I'm not **that** bad to be around." She shot him a trademark grin before sliding her arm through one of his.

The rooms in the large resort were separated, four girls (or boys) to a room. Of course when the four girls found out that they were in separate rooms they made if clear that they would cause hell until the rooms were changed to suit them. So, after a few threats, hair pulling, a small incident with scissors, and few curse words later Hinata (who tried her best to hide from the violence), Ino, Tenten, and Sakura were together in a room.

"Wow! Imagine the coincidence that all of us would end up in the same room!" Tenten said with a large, sadistic smile on her face. She threw her bags down on one of the beds before heading to the door.

"Where're you going, Tenten?" Sakura asked as she pulled out a new pair of clothes.

"To meet Neji, duh." She grinned before leaving the room.

"I'm going to meet Shikamaru since we don't have to meet everyone until nine tonight." Ino said after having changed. Hinata whispered something about meeting Naruto. The two girls left in unison, leaving a stunned Sakura all alone.

"So…this is how this week is gonna look?" She mumbled to herself after looking over the empty room. Changing quickly, she left to get her snowboard from the buses.

"Hey, jerk, I didn't know you brought your own snowboard too." Sakura yelled as she ran to meet Sasuke behind the bus. He held a blue and black snowboard with his family crest on the bottom.

He eyed her as she pulled out her white board. On the bottom was a tree with many sakura blossom painted on. She blushed, looking away. "It was a gift from my mother. She's always been a bit eccentric about my name."

He smirked. "It suits you." Her head whipped up as he spoke, a grin formed on her face.

"Come on, I bet you I can beat you down The Mountain of Death." She pointed at the tallest mountain in the resort. While no one had died on the mountain, plenty of people had gotten close to it trying to reach the bottom safely.

He smirked at her challenge. "What do I win if I beat you?"

She pouted slightly as they walked to the tall mountain. "Hmm…well considering that you **wont **win I guess I'll give you anything you want." He raised an eyebrow at her wager, but said nothing. "That is **if** you can beat me." She stuck her tongue out playfully before adding: "And if I win I get anything I want also."

"Deal." He said simple, wrapping his arm nonchalantly over her shoulders. She blushed, not noticing as Sasuke glared at all the teenage boys who stared at the pretty teenage girl next to him.

--

"Dammit!" Sakura yelled as she came to a stop. "That's so not fair! You beat me by a second!" She pouted as the boy just smirked down at her.

"I told you I was good." He mumbled, unhooking his feet so that he could walk to the meeting place. Going up the mountain had taken much longer than either of them had expected and it was already 9:10.

She huffed, rolling her eyes dramatically as she unhooked herself from her board. As she picked up the white board she glared at the Uchiha. "So, what do you want as your prize?" She looked around at the almost empty resort. Everyone from their school was already meeting with teachers.

He smirked again. "I'll tell you after dinner." She scrunched up her nose before falling him, albeit reluctantly, to the meeting place.

"You both are late." Kakashi stated the obvious as the pair walked in, twenty minutes late. Everyone else had already gone to dinner, the rooms, or out to the mountains (it was an all day and night resort).

"Hehe, sorry teacher, Sasuke here is slower than I thought he'd be." She grinned cheekily, pointing to the stoic boy next to her. He didn't say anything to Kakashi, but he did whisper that she knew who won the bet in her ear.

Kakashi pretended not to hear his student. "Well, we just want everyone to know that no one from the opposite sex if allowed in each other's rooms after midnight. Anko will check the girls and Gai will check the boys." He flipped through his book. "So if you want to do anything before midnight feel free to." He winked as he walked away, hoping to find a good drink somewhere on the resort.

"Meet me in room 200, in thirty minutes and I promise you I'll tell you about the bet." He headed for the door.

"I won't have sex with you, Uchiha." She yelled, causing the random students to stop and stare at her.

He just smirked. "I wasn't going to ask you to." She smirked back as they headed off in opposite directions. Sakura needed to confide in her friends and she had a good feeling as to where they were…

"**Hinata! Look at all the flavors of RAMEN**!!" Naruto's yell brought about a number of stares, but that didn't stop him from gawking at the menu. Sakura rolled her eyes as she walked into the food court. The only reason he came along was because of the all you can eat buffet that held 25 different flavors of ramen. She eyed the lazy genius who was busy sleeping while Ino talked to Hinata and Choiji (Another person who was enjoying the buffet). Sakura went over and sat down, telling the girls about the bet as quickly as she could.

"So, are you going to his room?" Ino asked, picking at the miso ramen in front of her. "I think it'll be worth it."

"I have to go. No way will I give that bastard the satisfaction of seeing me chicken out of a bet. I just don't want to do anything I'll regret." She wiped at her warm face absentmindedly.

"I-I think you should go too. You won't regret anything with Sasuke, I'm sure." Hinata said softly, blushing as Naruto put his arm around her.

"I'm not so sure. He's not as nice as you two's boyfriends." Sakura groaned.

Ino smacked the girl next to her lightly on the head. "Get over it and meet him! You never know, he might end up being really nice. He's probably just as embaressed as you are. That was your plan in the first place, right? Get him to fall in love with you? And look! Here you have a perfect chance to fulfill you mission and you're getting too worked up over it." Ino panted as she finished her speech in one breath. "Just make sure you tell him about Itachi and Sasori soon. I'm surprised he hasn't found out yet."

Sakura flinched at the last part. "I know. I'll tell him tonight if I remember." Standing up she took a deep breath through her nose. "Okay! Thanks guys, you two are life savors!" She waved as she ran off to find Sasuke's room.

_Knock Knock….Knock Knock Knock…**BANG BANG**_

"Dammit Sasuke! Open the damn door or else I'll kick it down!" Sakura yelled as she glared holes into the white door.

"What are you doing? I said room 200, not 202." She turned around, eyes wide, to see a very amused Sasuke. He leaned against the narrow doorway of his room, trademark smirk on his handsome face. He waved to her to follow him into the room and walked inside in one motion.

She followed silently, blushing at her mistake. _200….202, what's the difference?_ She thought sourly as she opened the door to his room. _Why did he close it if he knew I was going to come in…weird._

Once inside the room she spotted Naruto's bed (It was the one with bright orange clothes all over it, how could she **not** notice it?) and sat down on it. "Alright, what do you want? Damn, this is really familiar – how come I always end up owing you favors?" She stood up, pointing an accusing finger at the sly boy. "Are you planning all of this?" The thought that Sasuke could possibly be manipulating her was not a small possibility…

He smirked, leaning against the cream walls. "Not at all, you just mess up a lot." Before he could continue to possibility insult her she held up her hand.

"Just tell me what you want already." She grinned goofily, a sudden thought coming to mind. "Is Uchiha Sasuke such a pervert that he had to call a defenseless girl to his room all alone?"

He rolled his eyes, but didn't say anything. Instead, he took a step closer to her. Eyeing him cautiously, she took a step back. He took two more, she took three, he took five, and she…hit a wall. _Shit,_ she thought, sighing inwardly. He reached her, looking down at her with cold eyes.

"Well? What do you want for winning?" She asked with more attitude than before.

He smirked. "Just a kiss." He whispered huskily, leaning down. His lips touched hers softly at first before he wrapped his arms around her waist and back, lifting her towards him. She ran the tip of her tongue over his lips and he growled low, hugging her even closer to his body.

He finally let her go, leaning towards her and the wall before parting. "Did I steal your first kiss?" He asked as he nibbled lightly on her ear.

Sakura just rolled her eyes and swatted him away. Sasuke just stared wide eyed at her, obviously shocked. "Did you really think I would make out with another guy while you were gone?" She giggled at the thought, holding up her hand to check off the list. "Let's see, I've kissed, Neji, Naruto, Lee, Gaara-,"

"What?!" He yelled in surprise.

She looked up with a smile. "I'm a kissing fiend. When I get drunk there's no stopping me. The only person that I've probably kissed willingly and **not** drunk was Gaara since we dated for about a year." Sasuke stared at her before asking who Gaara was. "He was the transfer from Suna. I didn't want a long distance relationship when he moved though and he was fine with it, no big deal." She waved it off but one look at the stoic boy and she knew it wouldn't be so easy.

"Hey," she huffed, hands on her hips now, "not my fault you didn't get my first kiss. If you had accepted my first confession then you probably would have gotten it." She poked him in the chest. "Be happy that I gave you a kiss just now, do you know how long I've been avoiding Sasori and Itachi for such simple acts?" She froze as he grabbed her wrist roughly.

"What?" He asked again, this time much angrier and quieter. He brought her wrist up to his face, looking at her menacingly. "What did they do?"

She laughed nervously, shrinking to the wall. He stepped closer, letting go of her wrist and pinning her against the wall. Leaning down, face to face, he asked again. "What did they do?"

_Shit shit shit shit_, She thought cringing at his sudden anger. _Dear Ino, please…bury me somewhere nice with a cute outfit on. You can have all of my clothes except the leather boots; Hinata can have those._ After she wrote her silent will her eyes opened to meet the cold onyx ones. Taking in a deep breath, she gained courage.

"Why the hell do you care?" She asked just as angrily as him. "Not like you have feelings for me anyways." Then she did the unthinkable. Haruno Sakura slapped Uchiha Sasuke.

It wasn't unthinkable because she hit him (she was known for her strength and short temper), no, it was because she had **slapped** him. Sakura did not slap. Punch, kick, bite – she did those without a second thought, but the idea of **slapping** was always too feminine for her tastes. So, when her palm connected with his pale face she did the first thing that came to mind.

She got the hell out of there.

* * *

:O What will happen in the next segment of "The Pink Duckling"? Well...you're guess is as good as mine at this moment..

And...who doesn't love a matchmaking Kakashi? ;3

* * *


	7. A Date A Ditch and A Redhead

D: This story is just going the way I planned, but the next chapter should be better. Thank-you all for the wonderful reviews! I didn't expect that many since the that chapter was worse than this one, but each and everyone of you made me smile :)

--

"You told him?!" Ino yelled as soon as the story was out. The small group of girls sat on their beds, listening patiently to Sakura's sob filled story. Everyone was shocked to hear **the** Haruno Sakura crying, but after hearing the story none of the three were very surprised.

"No, I accidently let it slip." Sakura bit her lip anxiously. "He was so angry for absolutely no reason though! So what if Itachi and Sasori kissed me." Ino nodded sympathetically. "It's...It's none of his business what I do with my spare time."

"Come on, Sakura. You know how Sasuke is. He's super possessive. It just means that your plan worked perfectly – he likes you." Tenten offered. "If I were you I'd be jumping up and down. Didn't you say you were going to crush him after he fell for you?" She pulled out her cell phone and texted an apology to Neji in case the 'crisis' Sakura was going through would take all night.

"Tenten's right, weren't you going to dump him as soon as he confessed? Instead he kisses you, gets jealous, and you **slap** him?" Ino questioned as she painted Hinata's nails.

Sakura buried her head in her pillow and mumbled something. "We can't hear you Sakura." Hinata said softly.

The pink-haired girl lifted her head quickly. "The plan has changed. I like him too." Tears pooled up in her eyes, but she didn't cry. Instead, she ground her teeth together before letting out a scream. "How do you guys till with the guilt of making your boyfriends sad?"

Tenten and Ino laughed. "You know me, I **don't** feel guilty. Shikamaru's too lazy to ever get ahead in life without a push, plus, he doesn't get hurt when I call him names. Even when we fight and I try my hardest to make him feel bad I end up failing."

"Neji doesn't care about insults and hitting him doesn't work. You're asking the wrong group of girls about this." Tenten saw Sakura glance at Hinata and sighed. "The idiot she's going out with is so thick he wouldn't know and insult from a compliment. This is unfamiliar ground you're walking on. I suggest you play it by ear."

Sakura groaned before flipping herself onto the bed again. "You guys are absolutely no help. If you want, you can go back to your boyfriends now." She closed her eyes before bolting up. "Wait-," she stopped before looking around at the now empty room, "dammit, this is very familiar." She lay back onto the soft bed and closed her eyes.

_….Some trip this is._ She thought before falling asleep.

"Wake up, I'm not going to be here for much longer." A voice said angrily. "You sleep like a rock, you know." The voice continued now amused.

She stirred before opening her eyes groggily. "What the? Sasuke? What are you doing in my room?" She asked the Uchiha who sat at the end of her bed. He glared at her and she rolled her eyes, lying back down before curling up in a ball. "Go away; I don't want to talk to you."

She could **feel** the glare he gave her but decided to ultimately ignore him. Finally, he broke her perfect silence. "I'm sorry." Her eyes widened at his words. So far that made two times he'd apologized to her.

"It's my fault." She whispered, not looking at him. "The two kissed me at the party, that's why I left," she paused before adding (with just a **hint** of spite), "even though no one seemed to notice." She sighed, hugging her pillow tightly. "Anyways, it doesn't matter if they kissed me," she ignored the feeling as her face grew hot, "I only kissed **you** back."

Sasuke smirked before crawling onto her bed, lifting himself right above her curled figure. Sakura rolled onto her back, now face to face with the Uchiha, and pushed him off the bed. "You'll have to wait a while for that, pervert." She rolled away from him to face the wall and curled up again.

Sasuke smirked as he sat up. Leaning against her bed, he sighed. "Kakashi told me your plan."

"Oh? What plan?" She asked in fake innocence, plan already forming in her mind how to get her teacher alone to kill him.

"The plan to make me fall for you and then get my heart broken, of course." He chose to ignore he comment on 'what little heart you have left' and continued. "He told me the first day I came back and I want to let you know that your plan failed." She froze. "I might like you, but you have feelings for me too." His voice grew quiet and she strained herself to hear him. "If you can, I'd just like…I'd just like to forget about the past and go out with you."

She didn't move at his words. In her head she knew that this was all according to her original plan, but then her head flashed the words 'Who the hell cares?' and her mind was made up.

"Fine, but if you don't treat me like a princess I'll dump you for Hidan." He smirked at her words but otherwise stayed silent. "And don't think that I've lost, Uchiha. You're now officially going out with a cute girl with pink hair." She sat up, smiling down at the boy. He stood up and leaned down, face now even with hers.

"Actually, Sakura, I believe that you have lost since I am going out with a cute pink-haired girl. If I remember correctly, I said I wouldn't go out with an ugly girl with pink hair." He leaned in to kiss her, but she held up her hand to stop him, leaning away from him.

"Because of that comment you don't get a kiss, jerk." She smirked, thinking she had the upper hand, but Sasuke quickly made a turn-around. Holding her hand in his, he caught her lips anyway, completely ignoring her order. They continued until they heard a few uncomfortable coughs.

"You guys got…**really** friendly in the last hour, didn't you?" The couple looked up to see a grinning Ino and a blushing Hinata. At their sides were Shikamaru (who wasn't surprised at all) and a grinning Naruto.

Sakura immediately kicked Sasuke hard off of the small bed and stood up. Sasuke, who by now was used to her kicks and punches, just rolled his eyes at her behavior.

"Don't you know how to knock?" He growled out, mostly glaring at Ino and Naruto.

"Well _sorry_, I didn't think I'd need to knock. I didn't think you had it in you to apologize to her, actually. You have exceeded my expectations, Sasuke." Ino said bluntly. "Now, you guys better leave because I don't want to know what Anko would do to you three if she found you." She shooed the boys out of the room, slamming the door behind them, before she turned to Sakura, a tell-me-all-the-gossip smile on her flawless face.

"What happened in the," she glanced at the digital alarm clock on the nightstand, "hour we were gone! You guys were getting hot and heavy in here, right Hinata?" She nudged the blue-haired girl who just nodded silently.

Sakura, who would be forever traumatized by the experience that just happened, rolled her eyes. "Nothing happened." She said, lying back down on her bed.

"I wish my nothings were like that." Ino said wistfully. "Did you guys patch up your horrible relationship?" She asked hopefully.

"What relationship?"

Ino rolled her eyes before sighing at her friend's innocence. "The whole 'I hate you, you hate me, lets tease each other before making out in the janitor's closer' relationship." She explained it with a straight face, obviously believing that Sakura and Sasuke did that often.

"One, Ino, I would never flirt with him that way and two, I have never made out with Sasuke in the janitor's closet." Hinata looked like she believed the embarrassed girl, but Ino was doubtful.

"You are so dense. Everyone knew you two were attracted to each other and that teasing each other was the only way to show it. I did the same thing to Shikamaru, the only difference in our relationship now is that we make-out afterwards."

Sakura shuddered. "I did not need that image in my head." She mumbled.

"Hey, at least you didn't walk into the room to find a very inexperienced couple try and have a grope fest." Ino said, shuddering overdramatically.

"I'm not inexperienced and I can assure you that Sasuke must have had some experience." Sakura defended.

Ino grinned maliciously. "I wasn't talking about you." She glanced down at the red-faced Hinata who had a mortified expression on.

Sakura laughed and Ino joined in shortly after. "That's pretty daring Hinata, isn't Naruto sharing a room with Neji? You're lucky he didn't walk in on you two." Sakura stopped laughing as Hinata's blush deepened. "Oh, he didn't did he?" Sakura asked, trying desperately to stop smiling. Hinata nodded before covering her face with her hands, obviously recalling events. At her nod the other two girls just started laughing again.

"What did he do to Naruto though?" Sakura couldn't imagine Neji just letting the blonde go after walking in on his little cousin kissing the boy.

"He chased him all throughout the hotel. Naruto had to hide behind Lee, who had found some alcohol, before he would stop." Even Hinata giggled at the memory.

_Knock Knock_, without waiting for the door to open, their strict teacher, Anko, just walked into the room. "Not hiding any guys, right?" She asked. The girl just nodded and she left without another word.

Yawning, Ino stretched. "Well, I'm not sure about you guys, but I'm pretty tired. Plus, I have a date with Shikamaru tomorrow." She glanced mischievously at Sakura. "And I'm pretty sure that you have a hot date tomorrow too, just make sure to lock the door next time."

Sakura groaned, throwing her pillow at the blonde. "For the last time we weren't doing anything like that!"

Ino smirked before throwing the pillow back. "I'm sure that if were had walked in ten minutes later that you wouldn't be saying the same thing." She stuck her tongue out before dodging another pillow.

--

Ino was **dead wrong** the next morning. In fact, she was wrong for the rest of the week. The 'hot date' Ino said Sakura would have turned out to be wishful thinking. Sasuke had disappeared the morning after he had apologized to her and was rumored to have left. By the last day there he hadn't called her once and Kakashi hadn't said anything about him except that he had left early.

The bus ride was a solemn time for her classmates and Kakashi since the girl had grown an unreachable aura and no one was brave enough to say anything around her.

_From Deidara:_

_:D Hey Sakura!! We're waiting for you your school, yeah. Sasori's with me incase you want to hide :P _

She read her text message with a small smile. Deidara had given her a ride to the school since she didn't want to leave her precious car at the school for a week. Deidara knew about the kiss and made fun of his redheaded senior for it on many occasions. Sakura laughed his and Itachi's kiss off as nothing big but she made a solemn vow to avoid any parties since.

At the school she spotted another familiar face besides Sasori and Deidara. She perked up at the sight of her old redheaded friend and once the bus had stopped she ran towards him at lightening speed.

"Gaara!" She yelled, throwing her arms around her ex-boyfriend. Sasori and Deidara just stared at she flew past them to jump the new redhead.

* * *

:D Yay Gaara.

And, if everyone can do me a favor (Besides review of course) I want to know if I should make my new story Hinata centric or Sakura centric? It'll be a Yakuza type story with Gaara (most likely) as the lead male. The poll is on my profile so if you can take the time to vote I'd be very happy :)

* * *


	8. Drama, Drama, Competition?

I deserve it if anyone yells at me. I haven't updated in so long :( School's started so hopefully I'll still be able to update often. I just had a little writer's block.

--

"Gaara!" She yelled, throwing her arms around her ex-boyfriend. Sasori and Deidara just stared at she flew past them to jump the new redhead.

--

"Sakura, you can let go now." The redhead said calmly, peeling her arms off of his neck. Gaara looked down at her emotionlessly, but she smiled up at him.

"Uh, Sakura? Who is this, yeah? He looked a lot like Sasori." Deidara said, snickering until Sasori hit him hard in the side. The two redheads stared at each before simultaneously turning their gaze to Sakura who was oblivious to the obvious tension

"Oh, this is Gaara; he's from Suna," she turned to her old friend, "Why are you back? I thought your dad didn't want you in Konoha anymore."

"He died a month after I came back. I would have come back earlier, but now I'm the president of his company and Temari wouldn't let me out." She giggled at the memory of the fierce blonde.

"Where are you staying?" She asked quickly.

"One of Temari's old schoolmates, Uchiha Itachi, our companies help each other." Sakura sighed at the name Uchiha, but smiled Deidara.

"Can we give him a ride there?" She asked the blonde hopefully. He hesitated, but one look at her big green eyes and he gave in.

"Fine," he breathed out, "but he sits in the back, yeah." The blonde led the group to his car, getting in the driver's seat silently.

"So, Gaara, what brings you back to Konoha? Miss me?" She asked cheerfully, ignoring the loud rock music that Deidara had turned on.

"Naruto begged me to visit. I'm only staying for a few months though." She frowned, but he continued. "Tsunade said that while I'm visiting I might as well be a teacher's assistant."

Sakura smiled at him. "You graduated early, didn't you, smartass?" She poked him in the side.

"You're smarter than I am. I remember seeing your test scores rank second only to Shikamaru two years ago." He smirked as she blushed.

"Wow, Sakura! You're smart, yeah?" Deidara asked, turning down his music.

Sakura groaned. "I got into that famous medical school, of course I'm smart. I just don't like to tell people." She paused, thought coming to mind. "Wait, Sasori, aren't you from Suna too?" She put her finger to her chin.

"Yes, but I left it when I was sixteen." His voice was quieter than usual, but Sakura blew it off as just being Sasori.

"So, Gaara," Deidara started, "how do you know Sakura?" Sakura rolled her eyes at his fatherly tone. The blonde glared at the younger redhead through the backseat mirror.

"I was a transfer student here a while ago." His jade eyes glanced down at the pink-haired girl next to him. "And Sakura's ex-boyfriend."

Sakura pouted. "Gaara," she started in a warning tone, "you didn't need to tell them that much." It was too late for her to clarify though. Deidara had already stopped in the Uchiha's driveway, eyes large and mouth open.

"**What**?" He yelled, turning his head as he parked the car. "You two went out?" He pointed to him, then to her, and back again, repeating the process until she held up her hand.

"Yes, Deidara." She growled out. "But it was only for a few months and we're friends now, so it doesn't matter." She rolled her eyes, opened the door, and jumped out of the car before the blonde could say anything. Immediately after leaving the car she wished she hadn't.

"Sakura?" She froze; eyes shut tight, and turned to the familiar voice. The tall, black-haired boy stared at her oddly, waiting for her to acknowledge his presence. When she didn't open her eyes he walked over to her from the house door and reached out to her. She smacked his hand away. "What are you doing here? I've been trying to reach you for the past week." His voice was full of concern and she lost her will and opened her eyes…

…Opened her eyes so she could see her target. "The **hell**?" She yelled, poking him with her long fingernail. "I haven't heard a **single** word from you! One minute I thought we were going to have a relationship and then you up and leave for absolutely **no** reason!" She clenched her fists as tears welled up in her eyes, not willing them to fall.

Sasuke was shocked. His usually emotionless face was contorted in confusion. "What?" He held her shaking shoulders firmly, eyes narrowed.

She swatted his hands off angrily. "You heard me!" She pulled her long hair in frustration, letting out an aggravated sigh.

"I have no idea what you're talking about. You've been avoiding my calls all week." His hands went to her shoulders and he shook her softly.

"I've been calling you all week! Kakashi said you left and I don't take well to hearing that my boyfriend has up and left me all alone without any word from a teacher." She hissed, hands holding the hands on her shoulders. The couple was oblivious to the three men behind them.

"Huh?" The Uchiha took a step back, confused.

"It's obvious that you two have the wrong numbers, yeah." Deidara said with a roll of his eyes. "How else could you both call each other and somehow not reach each other?"

Sakura stared at the blonde. "But…I've had his number for a while, I've even called him." She pulled out her phone and looked his number up. "It's 555-555-551, right?" she asked.

Sasuke's eyebrows furrowed as he pulled out his own cellphone. "No, your number is wrong in mine too." He said with a growl. Sakura just stared at the phone in her hands.

Deidara whistled suddenly, breaking the silence. "Someone's trying to ruin your relationship, yeh." He said in a sing-song tone, twirling his fingers as he danced around the couple.

Sakura glared at him. "I don't know who'd be able to get into both of our phones." She said absentmindedly before sighing loudly. "Whatever, that doesn't matter." She turned to the stoic boy next to her. "…I'll forgive you for blowing me off." She huffed, crossing her arms.

She could _feel_ the Uchiha raise an eyebrow and smirk. "You'll forgive **me**?" He asked.

She just nodded. "I can be stuborner than you, Sasuke." She said.

"It's 'more stubborn'" He added smartly.

"What's more stubborn?" She asked innocently, winking at the boy in front of her.

He fought the urge to roll his eyes. Instead, he tightened the grip on her shoulders before pulling her close. Her head hit his chest with a soft 'thud'. "You're idiocy makes me wonder why I like you so much."

She looked up at him. "Who are you and what did you do to Sasuke?" She asked seriously before flashing him a smile. "_Anyways_, I'd rather do this lovey-dovey stuff when we _don't_ have an audience." She turned her head to look at the smiling blonde and blank-faced redheads.

"Why are there two Sasoris?" Sasuke asked blankly, pointing to Gaara and Sasori.

Sakura laughed, arms tightening around Sasuke's waist. "That's Gaara, he's supposed to be staying with you and Itachi." She said cheerfully, smiling at the redhead. He stared back emotionlessly.

Sasuke tightened his grip around her considerably, making her tense up. "…I didn't think the Gaara staying over would be your ex-Gaara." She rolled her eyes and pushed herself away from him.

"It's not a big deal," she said as she linked arms with Sasuke and Gaara, "I'm with you now, that's all that matters." She said happily as she dragged the two boys with her to the door.

Deidara turned to Sasori with a large grin on his face. "This'll be interesting, yeah. Can we stay to watch?" He asked mischievously.

The redhead just stared at him for a few moments before getting back into the car. "You're too nosy, Deidara. Leave them be." He said as he closed the door.

Deidara pouted openly. "But Sasori-i-i," he whined, "you like Sakura more than that Uchiha brat. You deserve her." He added.

Sasori shook his head. "Leave them be, Deidara." He said softly as the blonde began driving away.

The blonde glanced over at his older friend before sighing. "She'll be the end of you Sasori." He said thoughtfully as he drove away.

--

"**Ex, ex, ex, ex,_ ex!!_**" Sakura screeched at the raven-haired boy in front of her. The boy was already nursing a split lip from one of Sakura's nasty punches. He and the redhead across from him glared daggers into each other.

"Are you even listening to me?!" She yelled, shaking his shoulders roughly. "Me and Gaara don't have feelings for each other anymore!" She rolled her eyes as Sasuke continued to glare at Gaara. "Do I have to give you a broken nose for you to understand this?" She growled out, fist in front of his face.

His attention snapped back to her. "No." He said simply.

Her pink eyebrows furrowed in frustration. "No to listening to me or no to me breaking your nose." She hissed out.

He finally turned to look at her. "No to both." He growled out, obviously agitated.

Sakura took a deep breath. And another one. And another until her shaking finally stopped and when her shaking finally stopped, she punched her boyfriend in the nose.

"You deserve more than that. Now, if you don't mind, I think I'll wait up in Itachi's room until you quit being a jackass." She said calmly as she stormed up the stairs.

Gaara just watched the scene with a blank face. "She hasn't changed at all." He mumbled as he carried his bags up the stairs. "You should ice that." He added as he went to an empty room, not really caring if it was supposed to be his or not.

Sasuke just sighed, rolling his head back against the sofa.

Meanwhile Sakura was sitting on Itachi's bed, still furious. "You brother's an ass." She said angrily, clutching his black silk pillow close to her body.

The older man just sat at his desk, nodding at the appropriate times. "He is foolish."

Sakura nodded. "Can you believe he just left me on the trip with no word?" She asked sadly, leaning against his headboard.

Itachi turned around smoothly in the chair. "I ordered him to come home immediately last week."

"What?" She asked eyes wide.

The older man studied her for a second, deciding what to say, before nodding slowly. "I had some business to attend to and Sasuke was to be with me." He dodged the black pillow aimed at his face.

"You mean I yelled at my boyfriend for leaving me when it was technically _your_ fault?" She growled out tensely, hands on his other pillows.

"Yes, but it was his decision not to contact you." Sakura relaxed visibly, releasing the pillow from her grip.

With a deep sigh she hit her head against his wall, hard. "You're right." She mumbled sadly. She closed her eyes until she felt an extra weight on the bed. Her eyes met Itachi's coal ones above her.

"What the hell are you doing, Itachi?" Se asked, obviously uncomfortable in the position. He was stationed above her, pinning her to the bed. His hands were next to her body and his knees were next to her legs uncomfortably close.

"Don't speak." He said, leaning closer to her face.

She froze, eyes wide, as he leaned in closer to her until the door was opened.

"Sakura?" Gaara's voice broke the silence as he walked into the room.

"Yes Gaara?" She asked, pushing Itachi away from her. He stood and fixed his black shirt before sitting at the desk next to the bed. Sakura glared at the redhead. "Don't look so amused." Anyone else who saw the redhead would see an emotionless boy, but not Sakura. She could tell he was entertained at her situation.

"I don't know what you're talking about Sakura." He said with a shrug. "Can you help me unpack?" He asked. Her eyebrows rose. Gaara never asked for help but she was more than willing to leave the room after Itachi had tried to kiss her.

"What's wrong?" She asked once they had reached his empty room. Two suitcases sat in the corner of the room next to a plain desk. "You _never _ask for help." She accused, sitting in his desk chair.

He shrugged. "I felt like a change." Her eyebrow furrowed at his words, but she didn't say anything. Hanging out with a weird Gaara was much better than stubborn Sasuke or…well; there was nothing to describe Itachi with at that moment.

She opened his suitcase and pulled out his shirts, hanging them up as she did so. "How's Temari?" She asked suddenly from inside the large closet.

"She's fine." He said from the desk.

Sakura rolled her eyes. "I see you haven't improved on your social skills." She giggled as she moved onto to fold his pants. "How long are you staying?"

"Three Months."

"Only three months?" She exclaimed. "I was hoping you'd stay till I graduated at least."

"I have a company to run." She sighed at his business-like tone.

"I understand, I just haven't seen you in a while." She blushed at her own tone. She sounded like a child. "Alright," she huffed as she stood, "I think I'll be going home now. Unless you have more clothes?" She teased in a motherly voice as she went to hug him.

He accepted her hug stiffly, hands by his sides. Finally after a few moments she let go, about to leave when she felt a hand on her arm. "Gaara?" She asked. He pulled her close to him, hugging her tightly.

She nuzzled his chest. "Thanks Gaara." She sighed as she smiled up at him.

"Break up with him." He said calmly, staring into her eyes. Her smile faltered for a second before she put if back on.

"I don't know what you're talking about. Now, I really do need to get out of here." She said with a large grin before she left the house.

"You can't have her." A voice said from the doorway. Gaara didn't even turn to acknowledge the voice. "She's mine."

"You're just playing with her. She told me about how you rejected her. I'm not going to let you do that again." The redhead said as he finally turned to the Uchiha. Sasuke glared at Gaara angrily.

"So what if I am playing her? She was playing me at the beginning. Why would it matter to you?"

Gaara shook his head slowly. "That's none of your business. Just know that you have competition."

Sasuke smirked. "You're not much of a threat."

"I wasn't just talking about me." Gaara said slowly with a small smirk.

--

I know it might be a bit confusing, hopefully I'll be able to get it all explain in the next chapter.

:D Drama Drama Drama. This is like a soap opera now - blame Days of Our Lives and School.

I promise it'll get more...interesting in the next chapter :) I have a lot planned now.

* * *


	9. A New Student?

Sorry for the late update (Haha rhyme). School :( Got in trouble. If there's a bit more mistakes in this chapter it's because I got a new laptop and the keyboard is a it weird :) Sorry.

--

**Seventh Week at Konoha High**

**--**

"You have problems, girl." Ino said with a frown. The three girls were standing in their usual meeting place: the bathroom.

Sakura groaned. "I know. Damn Sasuke can't understand that Gaara and I just don't have that relationship anymore!" Sakura groaned.

"I don't blame him for being a bit overprotective. Gaara is hot." Ino said thoughtfully. "But the main problem, besides the relationship itself, is who messed with your phones?" Ino said, eyebrows raised.

Sakura shrugged. "It doesn't matter at the moment. Right now we don't even have a relationship."

Ino's and Hinata's eyes grew wide in unison. "You two broke up? After a week?" Ino practically yelled.

"Not really broke up. We haven't spoken to each other since Gaara came and who knows how he'd react if I told him Itachi tried to kiss me." Sakura groaned as she thought about the possibilities. "How can someone so smart be so…stupid?" She asked.

"You're talking to the girl who's dating Shikamaru." Ino said with a smirk. "Sakura, it'll all work out." She put a hand on the shorter girl's shoulder, clicking her tongue. "Sasuke will learn in due time. In the mean time we need a third for our group date. We have a guy for you too." Ino winked.

Sakura examined her friend carefully. "Who is he?" She growled out, suspicious.

Ino and Hinata laughed nervously, both avoiding eye contact. Sakura crossed her arms and waited for her answer. "His name is Sai and apparently Naruto and Shikamaru know him from that tournament. He was homeschooled apparently and is transferring today." Ino spoke quickly, stumbling over her words, and put her hands in front of her face.

Sakura rolled her eyes. "I'm an emotional wreck and you want me to go out with a guy I don't even know?" She asked angrily.

Hinata nodded. "Sai is…different. He'll listen to your problems, but his emotions are," "Nonexistent." Ino finished for the quiet girl.

"What?" Sakura asked, thoroughly confused.

"Shikamaru says that he has no emotions." Ino said, shrugging.

"…And you want me to go out with him?" Sakura asked.

Both girls nodded with excitement. "Yep! It won't be a romantic date, we're just going to a movie and dinner so it won't be awkward. Come _on_ you need a good time for once." She pulled on Sakura's hands. "Forget all the drama that's happened in the last few months and just let loose with us…and the guys of course, but mainly us!" The blonde pleaded.

Sakura bit her lower lip. "Fine," she sighed out, "what movie?"

"I don't care, probably something Naruto will beg to see." Ino rolled her eyes. Hinata laughed and agreed.

The bell rang. "Ugh, class." Sakura groaned out, grabbing her pink backpack and slinging it over her shoulder. "Wish me luck." She whispered as she skipped to class.

"Think she'll be okay?" Hinata asked, eyebrows furrowed as she grabbed her own bag.

Ino shrugged. "She'll live."

--

"You're late." Kakashi barked from his desk as the pink-haired girl walked into the class three minutes late.

"And you're early. What's the occasion?" she asked, actually shocked. She sat in the front, far away from Sasuke.

"New student." He mumbled, flipping through the pages lazily. Sakura looked around the room. "He'll be here in a few seconds." Kakashi said absentmindedly. Just as he finished the door opened and a tall boy walked in.

First thing Sakura noticed, and probably what everyone else noticed, was that his shirt was too short. His pale six pack was visible to the room and even she had to admit not staring was hard. Something hit the back of her head, though, and she turned, eyes meeting cold black ones. She huffed before turning back to stare at the new student.

"Everyone, this is Sai." Kakashi started, not bothering to look up. "Sai, this is everyone."

The pale boy waved at the class before flashing a large smile. Sakura raised both eyebrows at the obvious fakeness of his smile, but stayed silent, preferring to listen to the gossip.

"He's soooooo hot!!" One girl said wistfully behind her.

"He looks a lot like Sasuke though, doesn't he?" Another added. Sakura assessed the new boy's look and concluded that he did, indeed, look like the Uchiha.

The pale skin, a few shades lighter than Sasuke's, the dark hair…hell, even the body-type was the same. She frowned for a second, but it was just long enough to attract the attention of Kakashi.

"Ah, Sai," he shot a quick glance at the pale boy, "you can sit in Sakura's chair. She should be sitting behind Sasuke anyways." He said matter-of-factly, pointing with his free hand at the chair she sat in. Sakura stood angrily, slamming her fists on the table as she stood up.

The class went by slowly as Sakura stared out the window – anything to avoid staring at the spiky black hair in front of her. The only thing creeper than Sasuke's gravity-defying hair was that Sai had continued to turn around to stare at her every five minutes.

As soon as the bell rang she attempted to leave the classroom, but a hand stopped her.

"Sakura, we need to talk." Sasuke said angrily, hand clenched around her wrist.

She rolled her eyes before turning to look at him. "No, Sasuke, I don't think we do." She pulled her hand free as she stormed out of the classroom.

Outside she ran into Sai. "Hello," he said softly as he looked down at her. "Do you know where room 203 is?" Sakura smiled up at him.

"Sure, we have the same class, just follow me." She motioned for him to follow as she maneuvered past the freshmen to they're next class.

"Why did you transfer?" She asked casually once they reached the classroom. He sat next to her/

He thought about it, face emotionless, before answering. "I was interested. My father wanted me to have…social interactions, you might say." He smiled up at her and she frowned.

"Why is your smile so fake?" She asked rudely, not really caring at the moment.

He was silent for a moment. "It is?" He said thoughtfully just as the bell rang. Sakura laughed before opening her book. This teacher actually _taught_ with the book, unlike a certain silver-haired teacher.

At lunch, Sakura offered to let Sai eat with them.

"So, I see you two have met." Ino said with a wink. "How was class, Sai?" She asked as she leaned against Shikamaru who eyed her warily.

"It was enjoyable. Sakura makes a wonderful tour guide." He said with another fake smile. Sakura rolled her eyes before sitting next to the brunette boy. Her eyes caught Sasuke's (who stood across the room) and she quickly turned to face Naruto stubbornly.

"You guys still at it?" Ino said happily. Sakura glared at the blonde.

"We're not 'at' anything. He's an idiot and I'm tired of him. Simple enough." The pink-haired girl shrugged, refusing to make eye contact with anyone.

"This seems familiar." Hinata said quietly from beside Naruto. Sakura glared at the blonde who protected his girlfriend from her vicious emerald eyes.

"Aww…Sakura, don't be like that." Naruto said with a frown. "Hinata's just telling the truth. My Hinata never lies and she never says anything just to be mean. You know that." He added happily. Hinata nodded quickly in agreement, choosing to stay silent in fear of Sakura's wrath.

Sakura gritted her teeth. "She may be telling the truth but I'm sure she's heard of sugar coating, right?" Sakura asked sweetly, batting her long eyelashes. Naruto and Hinata's eyes went wide before both scooted back, in unison, from the angry girl next to them. Sakura smiled before turning to face Ino. "I'm guessing you're going to want me to make up with him too?" She questioned.

Ino shrugged. "I don't really care. If you ask me you both are idiots. He's just rude and you're just stubborn about it." The blonde stated simply. "So Sai, you like our humble school so far?"

The brunette nodded slowly, processing her words. "I like Sakura especially." He said happily, flashing her a smile.

"Stop with the fake smiles already and just be yourself." Sakura said, still angry about Sasuke. Why couldn't …not be such an ass?

"I'm sorry." He said quietly, not looking to sad at all. Sakura ignored him and decided to turn her attention to Ino instead.

"So, what will you bribe me with if I go on this _group date_." She mumbled through clenched teeth.

Ino was silent. "Hm….my undying love?" She offered, wiggling her thin eyebrows. Sakura shook her head no fiercely. "Then I'll give you a bag of skittles."

"You drive a hard bargain, but fine." Sakura groaned. "I'll go, but nothing romance of any type. Action or horror only. "She pointed a finger, warning the blonde.

Ino just flashed her signature smile before the bell rang. "Well, I'm off to my classes. I'll see you guys in PE." Everyone at the table groaned except for Sai, who just sat there, watching everybody with little interest.

--

"Ten more laps for youth! And another five for Love!" Gai yelled at the top of his lungs to the large PE class. Sakura, who was the front of the line, groaned louder than the rest of the class. Neji, who ran next to her, raised an eyebrow.

"What's wrong, Haruno?" He asked, obviously not interested.

She sighed. "Boy problems. You and Tenten going on the big group date?"

His gaze hardened for a second before he nodded swiftly. Sakura tried to hide her smile. "So I'm guessing you're being coerced into going too." She said with a giggle.

He nodded again. "Tenten said it'd be _fun_ if we went." He said with as little spite as he could, trying to keep his anger at bay.

Sakura grinned. "You'd do anything for her – how cute." She teased, dodging his invisible Glare O'Death "Don't worry, it's really sweet, even if you'd kill me if I said that while we were alone." She laughed again at his obvious agreement. "I need a guy like you." She groaned.

"I heard you had the Uchiha."

She scoffed. "_Had_." She hissed. "It…would never work. He's just too petty – it was pathetic really."

Neji didn't say anything to her words and instead fell back, to talk t Tenten most likely, because she sped up to reach Sakura a few minutes afterwards.

"Tell me it isn't true." Were the brunette's first words to the pink-haired girl. Her brown eyes were wide as she started at Sakura.

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "Tell you what isn't true?" she asked innocently.

Tenten glared. "That you and Sasuke aren't together! You two were perfect for each other!"

"Perfect? I doubt it. He went over the top when he saw Gaara. I yelling at him for almost an hour he just couldn't understand that what I and Gaara had been nothing compared to what I felt for him." She said with a sigh.

Tenten frowned, neither girl breaking stride. "I'm sure he feels the same way. You guys just need to sit down and talk."

"Maybe, but I doubt that'll happen anytime soon. I'm going on that group date with Sai." Tenten's eyes widened considerably. "Yeah, bribe from Ino." She added with a laugh.

--

"…No." Sakura yelled as the blonde tried to pull her into the clothing store.

"I refuse to go anywhere with you…you dressed like **that**!" Ino yelled, drawing even more attention to the small group in the large mall. The blonde angrily at Sakura's baggy black pants and white wife beater with disdain, obviously disappointed.

Sakura shrugged. "You never said to dress up."

"Yeah well I never said look like a preteen year old boy either, now did I?" Ino retorted pulling Sakura fully into the girly clothing store. Everyone but Ino and Sakura sat on the benches outside the large store, trying their hardest to stay out of the fight.

"I don't look like a preteen!" Sakura yelled back, dodging the high heels that were aimed for her head.

"Says you, a person with no fashion sense whatsoever!" Ino said as she picked out a black and white sundress. "Anyone else would think you were my mother."

"You're mother dresses like a preteen?" Sakura asked between laughs.

"I never said I got my fashion sense from her, now did I?" The blonde said as she pushed Sakura into the dressing room. "Put theses on and go outside. I'll pay for them."

Sakura rolled her eyes as she shut the door behind her. She had to admit though that tight white jeans fit her like a glove and the loose pink blouse did look good on her. She walked out of the store very unhappy. It's one thing to be insulted on your style sense but to be shown up in less than five minutes is a shame.

"You look very beautiful, Sakura." Sai said as she walked out of the store. He wore his fake smile.

"Thanks, but saying that with that stupid smile is a bit insulting." She snapped. His smile never left his face though. She smiled back, amazed at how unfazed he was by her anger. "Well, what movie are we going to see now that I'm _appropriate_."

"Action!" Naruto yelled, jumping up and down.

"Too troublesome." Shikamaru said lazily. "That's Shika talk for horror." Ino translated.

"I'll see whatever you want, Sakura." Sai said.

"I want horror." And it was agreed – a horror movie they would have.

--

A bit short, but Sai is Here! First appearance (I think) in any of my stories. :) He's not as emotionless, but I tried.

:D Next chapter in a few weeks (maybe one week if I get excited and churn out the next chapter of The Favor quickly)


	10. THE END?

...Yeah. I have horrible writer's block and this chapter is by far my least favorite (even compared to the many other least favorites in this story :P)

--

Sasuke was in hell. Not the fire and brimstone type of hell – no, much worse. He was in the 'having to live with his girlfriend's ex-boyfriend hell. The kind even he wouldn't wish on someone…except, of course, Gaara himself.

Bastard had the nerve to _threaten him_. Psh, Sakura would never pick an annoying sociopathic boy over himself…right?

….who was he kidding? He had to (must he say it?) apologize to her. But the question is, where the hell is she? It's bad enough that she's been ignoring him, but to not even bother to pick up her phone when **The** Uchiha Sasuke was calling her?

"Now that I think about it," he mused out loud, "it's a lot like her to hold such a grudges." Really, who would have ever thought Uchiha Sasuke could be so dense?

The only one to ask, though he **hated** it, would be her friends…the _w_itch herself – Yamanaka Ino.

He texted her, not in the mood to actually _speak_ to her, and received an order to go to Sakura's house in three hours for a surprise and that if he wanted Sakura for himself he had better act quickly. Oh, and Ps – hide in the bushes.

The last part made him suspicious. Was Sakura cheating on him? The thought was preposterous. **No one **cheated on Sasuke.

So, like any rational guy…he hid in her bushes in the fetal position to avoid suspicion. Of course, unbeknownst to himself, Sakura's bushed were very thing and while he could see through them – people could see in them. He just didn't understand _why_ people were looking at the bush weird.

Well, Sakura was no idiot and when Sai dropped her off (Ino just _had_ to borrow her car) she immediately recognized the black hair and body hiding in her bush. So, like any vengeful girl, she let Sai walk her to the doorstep.

"Thanks for today Sai, you, in a weird way, cheered me up. I'm guessing the guys warned you about my fight with Sasuke." She said sweetly. Sai gave her an odd look, but smiled.

"It was my pleasure. Do we kiss now?" He asked innocently.

Sakura laughed and kissed him on the cheek, waving goodbye cheerfully. Once he was out of sight she turned to the bush. "You can come out now." She said with no anger in her voice.

Sasuke stood anger evident in his expression. "You're cheating on me." He said.

Sakura invited him inside, telling him that arguing in front of her neighbors would be bad news. Once they were settled in the kitchen she replied. "Not at all. Ino and Hinata need a third girl and I was free."

"No," he argued, "you aren't free. You're **my** girlfriend."

"So? You don't treat me like one. You seem to think so little of me; the thought that I'd cheat on you when I've worked so hard to seduce you is preposterous."

"Seduce me?" He asked, oblivious to whatever else she said before and after that.

Sakura sipped her orange soda slowly. "Of course. I've worked for three years perfecting my body, keeping my face clear, and becoming the perfect woman in hopes of you showing up again. I told you I'd make you fall for me and I did. The evidence is that fact that you were hiding in my plants."

Sasuke glared at her. "You think I'm the only one you seduced? Because of you I've been literally fighting off guys that are jelous."

"Oh?" She asked sarcastically, "and you think it's been easy for me? You have a **fanclub**. I at least don't have stalkers, besides you of course."

Sasuke glared, standing up. She stood also. "What about Sasori and Itachi? Not mention Gaara and that guy out there!" Sasuke exclaimed, waving his arms wildly.

Sakura frowned. "None of those guys like me." She stated in a point-of-fact tone of voice.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "You're an idiot Sakura. They're all in love, well, I don't know about that guy out there, but most of them are in love with you."

"In lo-love?" She stuttered, dropping her empty can, "That can't be."

Sasuke nodded. "Let's just forget all of that and make up, okay?" He asked with a purr at the end. "I don't think we've had a proper kiss in a few weeks." He added slyly.

Sakura blushed. "You're horrible at changing the subject, you know." She said as she kissed his cheek lightly. "Now get out of my house and take me to dinner tonight. 8 O'clock sharp."

--

He obeyed her and took her to dinner that night. It was a small restaurant that they owned and, lo and behold, who was there when they showed up but Akatsuki themselves.

"Sakura!" Deidara yelled, hugging the poor girl to death. "What are you doing here, yeah?"

She glanced at Sasuke and smiled apologetically. "I'm on a date, what are you guys doing here?" She asked, looking at the members of Akatasuki.

"Well, long story short, we're having a party for Kisame's engagement." Sakura's eyes bugged out. Kisame? **Engaged?** She voiced her thoughts and Deidara grinned. "Yep, he's the first to pop the question, but I think Sasori will be next."

"Sasori?"

"Yeah, he found a girl…I think her name is Temari or something, yeah."

Sakura shook her head, dismissing the thought that it might just be Gaara's sister until she saw the familiar redhead. At the sight of him Sasuke grabbed her hand possessively. "Gaara? Is Temari going out with Sasori?"

The redhead growled at the mention of Sasori's name. "I'll take that as a yes. So, you're here to wish Kisame good luck?"

"No." He replied angrily. "I'm here to keep an eye on Temari's new boyfriend while she's in Suna."

Sakura giggled. "So _that's_ why you're here? So much for wanting to visit me…" She said with a pout.

Gaara shrugged. "I did want to visit you, but this is top priority." He turned to Sasuke and smirked, moving so Sakura couldn't hear them. "I see Ino's plan finally worked. She personally called me and told me of your idiocy." Gaara said before emitting a low growl. "But if I hear you've hurt Sakura again I won't stop myself from killing you." He smiled psychotically before waving goodbye to Sakura and dragging Deidara away.

"What was that about?" Sakura asked, oblivious to Sasuke's inner turmoil. Apparently there was more going than what he thought. Who the hell was the master mind behind Sakura's and his relationship? He shook the thought out and continued his date.

--

Next chapter will be the last :) I have a nice ending to it in mind - let's just hope it turns out well.

I tried to wrap up a lot in this chapter and I'll wrap up the rest in the next chapter.

I guess I really just want to write my Hinata centric story D:

Sorry to everyone who's stuck through this story - I couldn't just leave it with Sakura's date with Sai (thoug that was my initial plan :O)


	11. Epilogue

My first SakuraxSasuke. I really doubt I'll ever do another one :PP

The End :)

--

It's been nine months since that date. Sakura and Sasuke were stronger than ever….not mention gag-worthy. Their love oozed from each other by the buckets.

Over the last few months a few mysteries were cleared. One, Ino was the leading factor in their relationship (but Shikamaru was the _mastermind_), two Kakashi was the person to mess with their phones, and three….well there was too many to count.

It was summer, only one more month until Sakura left for her prestigious medical school and Sasuke for his business college.

"Sasuke-e-e-e." Sakura whined, emerald eyes wide, "I don't want to go now." She complained for the tenth time that week. It was Monday.

"You have too. I promise we'll get married once you're out of school and then we'll see each other every day." He kissed the top of her head reassuringly. Of course she wasn't reassured – Sakura was a firm believer in the theory that long-distance relationships just don't work. But she didn't say anything to him, just smiling.

Ino and Hinata had promised that Sasuke and her relationship would work, Ino had the familiar scheming glint in her eye, but Sakura wasn't too sure. Today would be the day she broke up with him.

"_What?_" He yelled, shaking her slightly with wide eyes when she told them that she wanted to break up with him. "Why?"

She shrugged, wiping at her eyes, "I want to focus on school. You should too. But, promise me, swear to me, that you'll see me in 8 years when I graduate. If you don't I'll marry Itachi." She threatened with a giggle. Sasuke was not amused, but he lived to cater to her will an agreed hesitantly.

--

**8 Years Later**

--

"Is he there?" Ino asked over the phone. Sakura told the girl no. "Bastard better show up. You're matured so much since high school, though, I wonder if he'll recognize you."

Sakura shrugged. Her long pink hair flowed freely in the wind, reaching her hip, and sighed, looking for her old beau. It wasn't everyday that one waited for their first love. Of course, this was the second time she's done so.

Sakura had been waiting for an hour. Her graduation ceremony was long over and she was the only one left waiting outside the school building. "Hey," she said sadly, "Ino, I'm going to hit the bar tonight." She said her goodbyes and hung up with a frown.

Standing up, she stretched and turned on her toes to leave the area, but one figure caught her attention. "Sasuke," she breathed with a smile.

"Sakura." He said with a smirk, walking up to her. She hugged him tightly before tilting her head to look at him. Like her, he had matured over the years. No longer 'cute' or 'hot' but more 'rugged' to fit her classy look. He still had the same chicken butt hairstyle that she couldn't help commenting on. He ignored her insult and asked her to dinner.

"So, how have you been, Sasuke?" She asked to break the comfortable silence. He hadn't changed much, she noted happily.

"I've been talking to that seductress Ino about you for eight years. I think my IQ has dropped significantly, but my ability to lie and persuade has grown tremendously."

Sakura grinned. "She can do that to people."

"Do you know why I've come today?"He asked out-of-the-blue.

She frowned. "Because I made you?"

He shook his head. "No." He pulled out a box in his pocket. "Will you marry me? I expect a long engagement, a year maybe, but I refuse to take any answer but yes." He said calmly.

Sakura grinned, opening the box and putting on the ring. "I guess I have no choice but to say yes." She said.

And so the ugly duck turned into a ferocious swan and won over the handsome boy…

--

Yeah, rushed, weird, and random...but...

:D A better, albeit corny as hell, ending.

Please review as a farewell.


End file.
